


Puzzle Pieces

by AmberAsters



Series: The Sunday Paper [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universes, Angst, Anxiety, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Collars, Death, Depression, Edge needs a hug, F/M, Family Fights, Fight scences, Heartbreaking deaths, I really suggest you mind the tags, LV, Later chapters might even hurt, Loss, Minor Character Death, Multi, PTSD, Puzzles, Red is a big jerk, Slow Burn, Some of this just makes me what to cry, Surface Life, Swearing, Violence, a whole lot of sadness, conflicts, horrible jokes, kustard - Freeform, lots of mentions of blood, mentions of abuse, mother mode, no joke just look at the comments, their there for a reason, universe jumping, very slow burn, which I reply to everyone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:29:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 58
Words: 73,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22341082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberAsters/pseuds/AmberAsters
Summary: Papyrus hated his new life on the surface. There was so many rules and skeletons he wasn't use to and no one that he knew besides his brother. His brother that he wishes he can make amends with in this new safe haven of theirs, but isn't sure how. And why is this pitiful human he somehow made friends with through his glaring, so open to help him when his brother isn't? He just wanted to go home where everything was just a little bit simpler.Undertale belongs to Toby Fox and all the Undertale aus belong to their respected owners.
Relationships: Papyrus (Underfell)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Sunday Paper [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626907
Comments: 274
Kudos: 117





	1. His Fault

The loud crash of a window breaking, shocked him out of his retrieve. A loud curse followed and then and even louder yell. For a moment he almost summoned bones to deal with the threat, but then he remembered that, this wasn't his world. This was the reason why he hated the house owners to be home during a job, if they broke something they could replace it before they returned. It's not like it would cost them, they would have had to do it anyway.

When the yelling reached the edge of his limit of tolerance, he took his time to get up and approach the human yelling at his cowering brother. Of course this human was small and pitiful, much shorter than either of them, not at all imitating and a beer bottle without a lid. It made him sneer at how Sans, a six foot something skeleton monster cowered at his words. He supposed that was his fault.

"Is there a problem?" The human went rigged at this cool tone, turning to face him in all his six foot and elven inch glory. It was almost pitiful how he shrunk back like goo in the sun upon facing him. Sans on the other hand looked quite relieved, but shifted on his feet with a guilty look. He looked like he was about to say something, but clamped down on it the next moment. That was his fault too. "I see you started replacing the windows Sans, punctual as usual."

That's something he never thought he would say, of course his own and the company's pride was on the line. San's pride was already out the window, in which it made it all the more importance that he helped him regain some of it.

"I... you...your." One look from him shut the human up and to scamper back into the house. In the next moment his glare was on his shifting brother.

"Finish with the windows, the fence is almost done so I'll need your help with the power source soon." His order was of course final, and got Sans to move and grab the replacement window. His own feet carried him back to his work and to the box that ran the whole system. Even if Sans wasn't done by the time he was, he would still have to come help. His magic was the only thing that could lift it high enough, well that and he really preferred it not to explode in his face. That would be quite nice.

In hindsight it would be preferable to not be doing any of this. He didn't want to work for those greasy flesh bags or be here at all. He wanted to be at home, in his own world, despite how... safe this one was, crushing skulls under his boots and getting rid of the garbage was the life. This was not the life he trained years for, even if his brother was happier here, with all those other bone bags, he was not.

He barely flinched when Sans's phone went off with probably the cringyestt song he has ever heard. Nor did he flinch when he heard how his brother answer it, but he did stager when he hit his head on the board above him when he straightened up.

"Yo, this is Caged Out Security, how can I help ya?" Papyrus quickly approached his brother just in case it was a job or it was a call for him, his own phone having been smashed when he 'accidentally' tossed it across the room the other day. Sans still hasn't let him live it down.

"Is it a job?" Sans waved him off as he hummed as a reply to who ever called, a sharp smile growing on his lips.

"Yeah we could be up that way tomorrow to cheek 'em out." He smiled wider a moment later sending a look toward Papyrus that told him he was not going to like what ever this was. Why Sans always had to do that was a mystery to him, but it was another thing on the long list of his fault. "'k see ya tomorrow then." He slipped his phone into his pocket and gave his brother a wide smile.

"What? What could it possibly be this time?" Sans took a moment to incase his magic around the device, and glance at his brother once again.

"Not only is't a two story house, but it's wheelchair accessible, and..." Sans took a moment to draw out the word, as he pulled the box into his hands as a means of a shield. Magic and electricity humming off it in a dangerous mix. "it's on Gerram Street."

The first two parts were un-preferred being it was hard to work around ramps and secure second stories, but it tolerable enough, but the fact it was on that dreaded street made him hate this job more than he already did just having it. That street held the very person he hated more than Jerry, a person he had to do a job for awhile back and had that description for a house. He had hoped he would never have to deal with them again.

"Is this who I think it is?" His voice was quiet, deathly so, enough to make his brother's smile all the more wicked.

"I'mma not gonna say."

"I swear to Asgore I'm going to strangle you one of these days."

()_()

He had too breath a sigh of relief. It wasn't their house, but Sans might have just purposely taken them to the wrong address. It was quite possible since there was no ramps, but there was a balcony and it was on the correct street. Now he just had to figure out if his brother was pulling his leg or not.

"Why don't ya knock boss?" Or maybe he wasn't. Sans was quite irritable this morning from the early start and that wasn't a tone in which he played at these pranks. That and he wasn't one to pull a prank to this extent at this time of day.

"I was about too." He snapped back and banged his fist against the door. The hinges creaked under the force of his fist and he automatically made a note to change those first until a new door was made available. 

"Who is it!?" A voice called from inside. He almost scoffed. If he had been a burglar or something and said he was anyone she knew or could be knocking at her door, she could be dead. He really didn't like how this person treated their safety, but then again in the state in which their house is in, they might already know that anyone could get in if they really wanted to.

"Caged Out Security!" He answered, glancing at the windows and lock he could see, taking note of priority.

"Come in, it's open!" That time he did scoff. Thats all he said and she believed him, not only that, but they left their door unlocked like an idiot. He prayed to Asgore he didn't have to deal with this person more than he already had too, least he make Sans do the job alone.

He pushed open the door, a bell going off above him and the hinges screeching loudly. His eyes drawing to the hall parallel to the stairs in which he could hear movement. Following it, he came to a small living room in which his client was doing a puzzle on her coffee table.

"Oh, hello... um... you can go and do what ever you need to, if you need anything just ask and... well... um..." She was almost as bad as Napstablook, if he hadn't have been a ghost he surly would have been dead a long while ago in his world. She would have been in the same boat, especially with her lack of locked doors.

"I can go over stuff if ya deal with the action plan." Sans having took pity on the girl, that or he just hated the awkward silence, quickly piped up. His gold tooth shining brightly behind his awkward smile.

"Yes, that sounds doable." With a sharp nod Sans disappeared and he was left alone with the stupid human. Of course it couldn't be any worse than that other woman, nothing was worse than dealing with her, and he was going to stay far away from her house.

"Shall we talk business?" She nodded quickly and set the piece she was fiddling with down on the table gesturing to the the only arm chair in the room. By the time he sat there was at least five pieces of the puzzle placed and one fiddling in her hand again. "From just the size of the house I can tell this may take us two weeks depending how fast parts come in, which we will be going over later and if there are any other complications such as clearing some of the yard and if you want a fence which I highly recommend, as for right now do you have a budget?"

She blinked at him owlishly for a second before placing the piece down in the correct place without looking. She then put her hands into her lap and shook her head. "No I don't, my brother is covering the expenses, says he wants the best for my safety."

"Does the best for you safety include not locking doors?" He raised an eyebrow with his question, only sending it higher when she began too blush and fidget.

"No, no of course not, it's just easier to do that when I'm expecting someone, otherwise it's locked." Maybe she was more like this world's Alphys, but the seemingly laziness was almost as bad as his brother and those other bone bags, especially the gangly one. He hoped he didn't have to deal with someone else like those idiots.

"I see... will you be in the house the whole time we are here?" He glanced at her puzzle again seeing about ten pieces now placed, and yet another in her hand. He had to wonder if she had done this one before.

"Yes, but I'll stick to either in here or my puzzle room, so I should be out of your way." A puzzle room? He could definitely respect that, but the fact she wasn't leaving was a bit irritating. Hopefully Sans didn't break yet another window.

Just as his thought ended, said skeleton appeared in the room, to hand him a notebook. He took it with out a word, and flipped through the offending pieces of paper. There was quite a lot to do and even more stuff then he thought, like the four very tall windows in a very large library.

"We'll be starting at the same time tomorrow and everyday after until we are done, if you have any questions or concerns, it is best if you bring them up now or as soon as you can, today though we have measurements to take while you look over what you want your replacement windows and doors to look like, if you also had a floor plan for the house would be most helpful." She stared a moment before nodding and glancing at Sans who gave her a cheeky smile and a wink.

"Well boss, sounds like we have a ton of work to do... I skeleton!" The room was still for a bout half a second as himself and the girl took in what had just transpired. Papyrus's response was sending a glare at his brother for his horrible punery, while the girl snorted then bursted into giggles. In which case, Sans only smiled broader at.

"Oh don't you start encouraging him or I'll never hear the end of those dreadful things!" His own response only seemed to increase her mirth and the volume of her laughter, and increase his glare on her.

"Come on boss, give her a break, after all..."

"Sans I swear to Asgore."

"I really did hit her funny-bone."

Never before had he wished so hard that murder was legal in this universe. However, the girl didn't seem to share his sentiment, barely breathing with how hard she was laughing. What she saw in his brother's terrible humour, he would never know, but at least it has made his brother happy. That he wished was his fault too.


	2. Smoke Jokes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theres a get together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: firstly I am not saying Sans and Red are a pairing in this, I mean you can take it as that because of how heavily it's applied (that's where the non canon kustard tage comes in) but, they're just supposed to be really close (if I change that later I'm not sure). Secondly, Red is refered to as Sans by Edge and Papyrus by himself, because it is his point of view and he's still not use to the nicknames, so classic sans generally goes by bone bag and classic Papyrus is mostly just Paps.
> 
> Now onto the chapter I didn't think I'd get out so soon, but don't expect another for at least a week unless I suddenly get time.

Papyrus hated these get togethers the more peppy version of him insisted on having at least weekly. The tiny blue Sans would boast about his popularity, the lazier Sans would sleep and pull his brother into a punning war along with the lengthy lazy him. The other lengthy one would watch the exchange with a smile, very rarely dishing out his own for the edgy Sans might hit him. Said Sans would often be in the kitchen criticizing something or other while the peppy one of him cooked with help from the blue Sans.

It was always the same every time, even the Raz and Blue's weird friendship, or his own brother and the bone bag's weird bromance. He referred to it as that, because they didn't seem romantically involved, but he has seen one or the other pull the other one to them so they could light their cigarette on the other's enough times too just about assume there was something he wasn't seeing. Or perhaps he refused to see but, he was positive it was just bromance.

He pulled another drag from his own cigarette, smoke curling into the air around him. One thing he did like about the surface was actual cigarettes, instead of those dreaded dog treats Doggo had gotten him to try once. That was something he was sure to never do again, even the thought of the stupid things brought the taste of dog food to his mouth.

Cigarettes on the other hand were quite calming to him, just like all the other people who were addicted to the stupid things. He imagined the Sans' and Sans-like-hims, liked them because it helped with their anxiety and depression if his brother or even himself was anything to go off of. He supposed his problem was mostly anger and nerves, and possibly waiting for the humans to finally revolt, but that wasn't even accounting for all the times he truly believed he was back in the Underground and people were trying to kill him everyday.

Another puff of smoke circled his head, joining the clouds in their mission to blot out the stars from his view. Something he still hasn't seen in his time here. He appeared in the city and the smog kept him from seeing them. He knew his brother was quite upset over this, but they were planing a trip in a few months to go into the countryside and stargaze.

The one thing he did like about these get togethers was the impromptu smoker breaks. Stretch and Rus approached him, taking a a seat to either side of him on the rickety deck. They slouched back in their own chairs while he leaned forward, eyeing how his brother attempted to frazzle everyone around him with a dirty joke. From over here it seemed to be working quite well.

"your chain smokings worse than normal, have a ruff couple of days?" Stretch asked as he started up his own smoke while looking up at the clouded sky. Papyrus could tell he was looking for the stars just as he did early. Stretch was almost as obsessed as his brother and the other bone sack, if Rus was interested he didn't show it much. Then again for him that could be just habit.

"Our newest client is an idiot, and her manners are horrible, didn't even offer us a drink the whole time we were there." He grouched as he watched the others around the fire pit, Raz trying to push Blue out of the way to show Blue he could cook marshmallows better, for Blue was in fact burning all of them. Paps was burning his less so, but he supposed it was more for the fact they lacked the proper lips to blow out flames and Sans adding logs to make the flames higher than it was his skill.

"You could always join me and my bro, you deal with a lot less people." Rus offered eyes trained on his brother who had got ahold of the marshmallow. "and they pay is good."

"I don't think he would, his pride would be on the line." Stretch cut in, purposely puffing smoke right at him and the knocking his ashes onto the table instead of the tray.

"Our pay is fine, besides me and Sans are talking of expanding as soon as we figure out how to make installing the system easier, he's constantly working on that stupid box." Papyrus shifted into a more laid back position, his eyes still scanning for possible threats out of habit.

"Yeah he's been coming to the rest of us for help sometimes, it's a tricky thing that box, so much power for such a tiny container."

"Like that dick of yours?" Papyrus snarked as he found his cigarette to be burned out. He made quick work to start another one, sticking it between his teeth and puffing on it hard. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rus's head in his hands, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter.

Stretch on the other hand had a challenging smirk.

"Oh of course you'd know, after all, we are the same monster." There really was a hope in hell for Stretch's sense of humour. In all the time they had spent together along with watching him and Sans bicker has finally gave him some ammo. That or him and Rus were hanging out more than he originally thought, which would be highly likely.

"Nah, that don't matter if I'm the one with more magic." There wasn't much Stretch would be able to rebuke with to that. Couldn't rebuke cold hard fact. Rus seemed to agree as he gave Stretch that 'you just got told look', and his own smirk became more prominent. Smoke curling more thickly into air.

"You know those can kill you right? You'll end up with black lung." Stretch smartly changed the topic, knowing that that conversation would just start going down hill for probably all three of them. Any jokes against each other would just be backfired against themselves if they didn't play their cards right. Stretch might have been able to if it was anybody else, but currently he was against two fell look a likes that he still wasn't use to.

"What lungs?" The three of them sat in silence for a moment before falling into deep laughter, not so much for the joke just the abruptness of the change in demeanour, and perhaps the two bean poles found it amusing that he followed the joke with lifted brows.

"Either way you should probably slow it down they have been proven to harm monsters now." Stretch commented as he lighted another of his own, Papyrus raising a brow and Stretch looking on with indifference.

Papyrus made a point to light another one and sticked it between his teeth with a sneer. "And you know what they say, pick your poison."

Rus shook with quiet laughter again at the exchange, always able to find humour somehow in the two skeletons banter, even more so when he was dragged in. Which Stretch was probably planning on doing soon.

"hey." The three of them looked up to the two new members to their smoking party, standing together like siamese twins. Of course the laughter would entice the two over, they were always sticklers for a good joke. "room for two more?"

"Depends on why your asking." Rus piped in crossing his arms and letting his cigarette hang between his teeth.

"bad jokes and second hand smoke." Sans replied leaning an elbow at the bone bag's shoulder. Of course he was still smiling ,those two rarely weren't, even when he knew they didn't want to. A coping method just like his smoking and beating the crap out of sand bags.

"Well then, your always welcome over here." Stretch smiled, gesturing to two of the other deck chairs for them.

"heh thanks." Bone bag replied.

And, his good mood was killed. He put out his cigarette before it was even half done and stood up in one smooth movement. The others watching as he did. "I'm going to leave before I have to suffer through any of your horrendous puns."

He had to consider moment where he was going to go, he didn't want to stay on the deck and defiantly didn't want to be over at the fire pit where they somehow got into a marshmallow fight. He had a sneaking suspicion that his brother was the main instigator for that. So that left sitting in the house alone or just going home. Both of which he had done before, but he didn't feel like walking all the way home right now... he would also prefer not going inside so he could continue to smoke, but currently it was the better of two options.

He entered the house without another word, heading to the kitchen to do the dishes that had been left. It was the only thing he could really do in here to calm his jittering nerves, it really didn't seem to help though.

"You know, you could have stayed." Papyrus's reaction was instant. A bone club in each hand and his eye flaring with magic. Every bone in his body tensing under the way of magic washing through them. It took him a moment before he even realized he was facing down Rus, and had almost taken off his head. Said skeleton was barely phased by the action, eyes staring lazily at the threat until they disappeared and he turned his attention to Papyrus.

"I didn't want to." Papyrus stepped back, turning to place his hands on the edges of the sink and look down into the bubbly water. He really needed to buy a new sand bag.

"Me and my brother have been here a little longer then you guys were, but I do remember constantly having the jitters." Rus started to pull condiments out of the cupboard, until he had two for everyone in their little group outside. "It helps if you start thinking that the whole place is the safety of your home, you can lower your guard some, but you still need to be aware of possible attacks." Rus scooped up the bottles in a messy pile smiling at him smartly. "The best way to start is drinking with buddies."

The lengthy skeleton lumbered outside, a chorus of laughter filling the air when he opened the screen door. He left it open, leaving him the invitation to come out and sit with them again. Papyrus stared at it a moment before making a decision. Letting the water drain out of the sink, he dried off his hands and turned to leave the kitchen.

Maybe he really did need that walk.


	3. As Messy As Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge has to deal with another mess of course, and maybe stumble upon some unpleasant memories.

Papyrus could usually handle a little bit of a mess. He could handle dirty dishes and socks in corners quite well. He could also deal with disorganization to some extent, he did live with his brother after all. That and was aquatinted with two equally dirty skeletons, not counting Rus since he tended to actually pick up after himself as to not anger his brother. However, the seer amount of chaos he walked into could not compare to the worst mess Sans had ever made, not even that one time he decided to build a mustard fountain. His own brother was even baffled by the sight, but smiled none the less.

“you should see the library.” He definitely did not, not if it was anything compared to this mess, and maybe he could have handled it all if it weren’t for a fact he was told his window order was going to take a week longer than originally planed.

“I found those blueprints you wanted.” The human offered sheepishly from her place on the floor, placing a book beside her on a pile on the coffee table. He was generally curios though, on how her living room had become the worst episode of Hoarders he’d ever seen in the last 12 hours. He didn’t think it was possible to create a mess that fast unless Sans’s trash tornado exploded.

“Brother.” He said tensely as he glanced around the scattered living room before sighing pained by the thought of watching this any longer. “Please go start clearing that path for the fence.”

“sure thing boss.” Sans disappeared with a static of displaced air and magic, probably wanting to get out of his way before he engaged into what the others liked to call ‘mother mode’. Who came up with such a ridiculous and inaccurate name he wasn’t sure, but he felt his brother’s muddy paws were all over it.

“I’ll have it cleaned by the time you two are done outside, it wouldn’t have been so bad if my brother didn’t work so quickly to try and find those blueprints, but he did find them, I’ll give him that much… Now where did they go?” Her voice trailed off as she shifted through some rolls of papers and a few books, looking for the found thing she lost once again. It wasn’t until his glare bore into her back enough for her to stiffen did she give him a pained smile.

In that moment he got a really good look at the human. Her hair was disheveled into tight knots, and looked as if it suffered through the same accident her living room did, and probably had. With shaking arms she would rearrange papers and add books to piles, reading them over with sunken eyes and tiredness. Her sitting on the floor only made it worse.

“Human you can get off the floor, I can deal with this… disaster.” He tried to watch himself of his language, not wanting to lead to possible bad reviews or complaints. Out of everything right now that was something he could not deal with.

She laughed humourlessly in response, her green eyes watching him as he picked up a few books at his feet. “Would if I could, been stuck here most of the night actually, waiting for enough energy to pull myself to the couch.” He raised a brow towards her as she lifted a shaky hand in response. In the back of his mind he could see an even bigger mess and her working most of the night to clean it up, perhaps the halls were just as bad hours previous.

“What did you do?” The response earned him a real laugh, a bit breathless but a laugh none the less.

“A little bit of everything, I’m sure my legs would be hurting if they weren’t so numb.” She rubbed them for emphasiswith a wry smile.

Helet out another sigh, cursing his inability to just walk away and not deal with any of this. Any other time he probably would have, but currently he had Pap breathing down his neck and he was sure would find out about it somehow if he left her where she was.

“Would you like some help?” He ground it out between clenched teeth, the very idea of helping one of these flesh bags more than he had to paining him. Of course this must of went over her sleep deprived head, for she blinked owlishly and smiled at him like he was some hero. He was defiantly not a hero, of any nature.

“To the couch would be enough.” Of course this meant Papyrus had to clear off the couch first, before he could do anything about her situation and a glance into the kitchen as he did almost made him choke on his non-existent saliva.

He should have just walked out the door, should of left, should have done a lot of things, but he had the feeling nothing would have changed by tomorrow and he still had a job to do. He would get paid for this anyway, from the hours of his time, so it really wasn’t for nothing, and if it could be argued it wasn’t for the money then it was for his own sanity.

()_()

Papyrus wasn’t honestly surprised when the human fell asleep ten minutes into his cleaning with how she already tended to regard her own safety. He had no wonder on why her brother wanted security for her, with how she already played life so unsafely. Another reason she’d be dead and raped ten times over in his world.

However, he did notice something about her as she slept that he could give her some credit for. Her guard was still up while she slept and her one hand curled around an arrow shaped charm at her wrist. She has some sense to her, he supposed, but a lot less than she should as a woman living alone.

Just to see he CHECKED her, her stats flaring in his vision, ones he had to raise brows too.

_LV 1 20/40 HP 3 DEFShe’s hiding something from you._

None of it was that surprising from his own observations and he was sure Sans already knew too.Why her health was down he’d have to peg to her exhaustion, and the defence was higher than he had guessed, but he was fairly spot on otherwise.

A flicker in the stats caused him to refocus.

_For some reason she trusts you._

Stupid human, very stupid. He was the complete epitome of non-trusting, even looked it.Yet this, stupid, over worked, idiot thought she could trust him after a single day. She was the single stupidest human he met aside from that other woman. He had to believe that this street spawned stupidity.

“boss?” Papyrus turned to look at his brother, the stout skeleton shifting on his feet. Fuck he wished he would relax around him, he only ever saw him relax around others and he hated it. He hated that his own brother feared him when he didn’t have too.

“Yes Sans.”

“can ya come look at this.”

Papyrus watched his brother, watched as he fidgeted and moved, but Papyrus could tell something was bothering him from his unwavering stare. Not often did Sans look him in the eye anymore, so when he did, Papyrus knew something was up.

He gave Sans a nod, glancing at the human before following him outside and around back. The backyard was filled with foliage and decay, a pond filled with algae in the corner collecting leaves. It may have been a nice backyard once, had been a place to relax if the deck chairs had anything to say about it. However, the over growth was thick and vines seemed to be climbing everything and anything. He almost wondered how it gotten this way, but then remembered the house only a few hours prior.

Sans lead him to the back corner of the yard, where it seemed his path making had paused and instead made a bit of a clearing. Papyrus had to pause when he realized why.

He wasn’t entirely sure why it had hit him the way it did, why his soul clenched and his magic flared, but he could tell that he wasn’t the only one. For before him sat two bikes, dug deep into the ground, much longer than the deck chairs, much longer than they had been above ground. One bike was completely mangled, more of a pretzel than a bike, the other had its tire bent and its handle bar askew.

However, it wasn’t just the conditions of the bikes, but rather the maroon stains covering them. Most strikingly present on the green ribbon tied to the handle bars of the pretzel. His fingers twitched and clenched as a flash of his brother’s marrow coating the ground reeled in his vision. He couldn’t help but bring a gloved had to cover his teeth as a bright wave of nausea crashed into him and he was forced to look away.

Sans was staring at him with tiny pinpricks, probably some other childhood memory playing across his mind. Of course neither of them were raised in the best of places, and they have seen their fair share of horrors from it. Violence against children was one of the few laws Underfell had, but that didn’t mean it was always followed, and they both have seen things they wish they never had too.

“do ya think… that’s quite thee stain…” Sans words fell short as he ran a tongue over his teeth, eyes blazing suddenly then flickering out, his gazed turned away.

“I don’t know…” Papyrus didn’t want to add more to what they were both thinking. That was a lot of blood, and the bike was a pretzel. Made them wonder if the kid that had rode it was one as well. One look at Sans told Papyrus that Sans was dealing with a memory from before he could remember and looked towards the house instead. “I can ask what she wants done with it… If you could continue the path that would be preferred, if not start changing the locks and hinges with the spares.”

Sans swallowed and then nodded, body flickering away, leaving Papyrus alone with what was probably a haunting nightmare. One of the few things Papyrus hated thinking about, children who were injured for any reason, because he knew what that was like and he never wanted anyone to live such a memory. He was just glad Sans had come and gotten him, he couldn’t imagine what his brother would have done if he had to deal with them alone. Blood and children’s toys was never a good mix for him.

He turned back to the house begrudgingly, feeling heaviness seep into his bones. He should have just left while he was ahead, to save himself from nightmares and anxiety. He should have fouled out not swung for a home run and now he was paying for it. To think after all this he still hadn't re-found those fucking blueprints.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit earlier than the promised February, but stuff just keeps getting busier for me and the next few days I'll have a bit of time, so here we are. The next chapter will probably be up in a day or two, but after that I'm not sure.


	4. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of Red's perspective.

_Sans set Papyrus between his feet as he looked over the board filled with various jobs that might allowed him to bring a bit of money into their life. Maybe some food into their stomachs. Of course the way Papyrus was gnawing on that doll bike might have made him think it was food, but he knew Papyrus was just being the baby bones that he was._

_He stepped forward to grab one of the jobs, unintentionally knocking Papyrus’s toy from his grip. Of course the already irritable baby didn’t get the memo of not drawing attention to them least they become a few extra EXP on someone’s stats, and promptly started to cry._

_Usually Sans wouldn’t have been too worried, being it was a capital crime to attack stripe shirts, but there was no guards and when there wasn’t any guards around they were just another dust bunny waiting to be swept away._

_Sans hurried to grab the toy and stuffed it into his brother’s grip, but his pride must of been brusied for he only cried harder at the offer. The one thing about a stubborn and moody baby is that they never got the memo even when people started to shout it at them._

_“Would you shut that thing up!” “Fucking annoying” “Dust it already!” “Fucking brats.”_

_Just before Sans was able to gather Papyrus close, a rock came sailing past his vision. The rock hit Papyrus right in the centre of his forehead, cracking the still fragile bone and sending a rivet of marrow down his face. Sans could only watch as it slashed down onto the handle bar of the toy and the crying grew shrill. He was only lucky that, that hit hadn’t dusted Papyrus._

_He felt himself get pulled back ruffly, his body hitting the ground as voices hissed above him. “Shut him up, or I’ll do it for you.” Sans stiffed when he saw the two snake monsters above him, quickly scoping Papyrus up and pulling him close to stifle his screaming some._

_“You know what, maybe I’ll just do it any way.”_

_The monster swung his tail, sending it towards them. Sans pulling Papyrus in close and using his body to shield him. He felt the sting before he even realized what happened. His tooth skidded across the cobblestone, slowly fading to dust as marrow leaked from his jaw on to the baby bones and toy below him._

_He gave a fearful look to the two looming snakes, and pulled hard on his magic. He was only able to pull them down the street aways, but it was enough of a head start to get them going and farther away from the snakes who decided they were going to pursue._

_Sans ran, clutching Papyrus, and swallowing his own marrow. He dodged cats and lizards, bugs and the odd bird. Until he weaved into an alley and parked himself in the shadow of a dumpster._

_Sans clutched tighter to Papyrus, trying to quiet his insistent whining. His hand pressed into his forehead, which had stopped bleeding, while his tongue pressed into his jaw to try and slow his own marrow from leaving him._

_He heard yelling at the end of the ally. His fingers curling a little tighter around the bundle that was Papyrus, trying desperately to quiet him down as to not give their position away. Of course he wouldn’t shut up until he gave him his finger for the little devil to chew on, him and his blasted teething._

_He held his breath when he heard them draw closer, drawing himself closer to the shadows of the dumpster. God he hated New Home, it smelt like the back end of of a Knight Knight and was no place to raise a baby bones, he would know of course based off his own life and now Papyrus’s. Papyrus didn’t deserve this kind of life._

_The voices drew to the other end of the dumpster, hissing at each other in anger. He stayed completely still even when Papyrus decided to dig his teeth in between his finger bones. They gave one finial yell before they slithered away leaving the two boys alone in the alley._

_Sans gave a shuttered breath, glad to be alone to be safe for a few moments before he had to throw himself once again into the fire. They really had to get out of the city and maybe into one of the inner cave chains in which there was less people and they could be just a bit safer. That’s just what they needed, they just needed the money for it first._

_Papyrus then made him self painful present by biting at the sensitive bones between his fingers, trying to pry the bones apart. “you little shit.” Sans pulled him away the little devil trying to grab at his hands again burbling as he did. Sans felt his self soften and make to stand up, checking Paps over as he did. “we’re gonna get outa this hell bro, even if we have ta claw our way o’t.”_

_It was then that Sans almost began to laugh, for Papyrus still clenched the doll bike between his grubby fingers, his own toying at the bent tire. The green of the faded paint a sharp contrast to the marrow that now gave it a new coat and it sent a brief shutter through Sans because not only had he almost died, but so had Papyrus and that was some of his marrow on that toy. Both of their marrow both of their lives there in plain view._

_He could only wish he had a drink._

()_()

Sans blinked awake staring up at the empty ceiling and running his tongue over his gold tooth. He could remember that day as clear as silk. Papyrus had been fussing too loud and angered those snakes. He can still remember the sting of their tail on his face and his tooth flying across the street.

After that they had moved to Snowdin and was able to rent and later buy a house. He had worked a million different jobs to do it, all while making sure he was home at night to make sure Papyrus ate and went to bed. It wasn’t great but it had been better. Now though, now they were safe from all that shit, sure there were the monster haters, but nothing they couldn’t handle. They were lucky, specially since he has a bit more HP than he did back then.

He covered his eyes then with his sleeve wincing as the memories of Papyrus’s youth and how uninvolved he became in it, then their fight and suddenly Papyrus was the boss and he was the cowering fool. Papyrus became everyone’s boss after he beat Undyne, second feared to the king. He knew Papyrus loved that life, knew he thrived in that life, he wanted to go back. Sans knew all of that, but he liked his brother here, where he doesn’t have to worry about him being dusted every day. Of course he also knew the real reason Papyrus wanted to go back, not that he’d ever admit it, but no matter how noble it was, he was safe here.

His finger looped into the ring of his collar, his sharpened nail following the grove in which had worn into the metal at the repeated action. He never took it off not even to shower, and he never did plan to take it off, he loved his brother way to much to do that to him. That and it just became habit, he felt naked without it and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be walking down the street with his back bare to the world.

His phone went off beside him chiming with the tell tale ring tone for the classic Sans. His eyes dragged lazily over the message, a snarky smirk on his face. That punny idiot.

‘ **come to the lab, it’s quite electrifying over here.’**

**‘do ya need a hand? or we're ya just switching things up?’**

**‘i just had a shocking experience with that box of yours, it was really in-lightening’**

Sans let out a breath placing his phone down taking note of the clock. Classic must of never went to sleep if he was up and at the lab, of course he was no better being woken up by memories this early. Classic must have been taking a gamble with texting him, if he was still asleep he’d probably be SOL for a few more hours.

He threw his jacket on over his black shirt, pulling on a pair of shorts as well. Taking the stairs down to the kitchen where he found Papyrus cooking omelettes from the looks of it. He probably just came in from his jog.

“boss, classic needs my help down at the lab, can-“ he cut himself off, knowing that this wasn’t home, this wasn’t a place where he had to act like a subordinate. He was his own person here and nothing else.

“Make sure your at work brother, there is a lot to do today.” Papyrus put an omelette onto a styrofoam plate which he kept just for Sans if he had to be left alone and refused to clean. He had to think Papyrus for that much at least. He took the plate and in the next moment he teleported to the lab a grin already placed on his face as he felt his bones relax. He was outta the eyes of danger and thus could relax a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect a Red POV did ya, and I wish it was a bit longer, but I liked where I stoped it so yeah. The next chapter will take a bit because I have to write it yet and I have an essay I don't even know the topic of yet due on the 14th so I'll be a bit busy.


	5. Coffee Needs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans is late, coffee gets involved, and the world might just come crashing down by the end of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably would of had this out sooner, but I had to sort out how I was going about this chapter. I think I might try to update biweekly if not weekly, but it really depends on how motivated I am after a day of dealing with people and trying to wrap my head around poorly taught physics. 
> 
> You may have also noticed that I put this into a series, called The Sunday Paper. That is because I'm planning on making some side stories for the other skelebros, the one I have for Stretch already being planned out and will be mentioned in this chapter sorta. I will make sure there are very few spoilers. 
> 
> (I also just noticed I still haven't named my human...I'll figure something out soon)

Sans was late. Of course that wasn’t unusually, especially at what time he had gotten up that morning and for the fact he went to the lab for the rest of it. However, Papyrus needed him to instal the security cameras today and even if the box’s evolution was important, and working on it _was_ considered working, the security of their costumers were supposed to be top priority. Due to all that, Papyrus had decided to start the fence first instead of last like usual, but it still bothered him that Sans wasn’t taking his work seriously.

He knows that it wasn’t just because Sans was lazy or unmotivated, he knows that now, but he’s got much deeper problems that Papyrus couldn’t even begin to sort through. Sure he’s got his own problems, with LV beating in his soul and years worth of damage, but he could never say he was more damaged than his own brother. So maybe he could forgive him for being late, for shying away from him, and acting like nothing ever mattered. Maybe he could forgive him, and maybe he could learn to live with it, because in all honesty he rather learn to live with it then be with out it again.

He tuned his attention to sorting out the planks in neat piles, making sure they had all the necessary parts and pieces. He then made sure that he had all the tools he needed and every other little odd and end he might need. Of course the fence was one of the most time consuming jobs aside from replacing the windows and doors, and would likely take him a few days. Moreover it helped that Sans was able to finish clearing a path after the bikes had been moved to the human’s garden shed per her request. Why she wanted to keep the haunting things he would never and didn't want to know, but he sure as hell didn’t want to look at them even if he did.

Once he had everything arranged, he sat back on his heels contemplating where he wanted to start in the yard. It would probably be more ideal to start at the front, but the back was more open and easier to access. There was also the problem of making sure he didn’t put a post into the other properties, because like idiots they don’t have any fences either and there were no markers. Well he guessed thats where the yard blueprints come in.

He pushed him self up to stand and made his way towards the house. Seeing the layout would give him measurements and maybe help him decided where to start.

He took the route through the garage, passing the beat up blue car and taking the only ramp in the house up into the kitchen. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hit him almost instantly, and the sound of stifled laughter caught his attention.

He hadn’t realized the human had company. “there’s a latte more where ‘at comes from.” Nor had he realized that company was his brother.

Quickly detouring himself into the human’s self proclaimed puzzle room, he found his brother and the human. She immediately noticed his presence, but his brother hadn’t yet and kept offering puns to the human like he wasn’t three hours late.

“Sans!” Sans flinched away and jumped at the same time. His body flickering in some sort of half aborted short cut, causing the air to crackle in rebuke. His body shrunk down the tried to straighten with failure. Much like he was trying to decided how he was going to act in the next thirty seconds, or if he should compasses himself to the size of an ant. 

“oh, hey boss i was just taking my coffee break.” Every word was carefully pronounced, like mistaken enunciation would be the death of him. His eyes shifting away and sweat started to build at the top of his skull with his nervous energy.

“A coffee break? That’s weird considering you haven’t done any work yet!” He could feel his magic snapping in his eyes at his anger. There was a deference between being late and purposely avoiding work. At least in the Underground when Sans worked his stations Papyrus knew for certain that Sans was still aware enough to know if people were there when he slept, but this was plan avoidance.

“I offered him a cup.” The human cut in before he could go on a tangent. Her eyes watched him wearingly, but still were full of steal and a promise. “He seemed tired so I thought he could use a wake up drink before he started.”

They stared at each other for a bit, considering the next one’s first moves before Papyrus relented and looked at his brother properly this time.

Sans had the equivalent of bags under his eyes, much deeper than Papyrus had seen on him before. His whole body seemed to slump not only from its natural slouch, but almost falling completely into itself like a collapsing house. Then there was the fact he woke up about four hours earlier than he usually did, that is if he got any sleep in the first place, and was probably working his brain and magic too hard in order to get that stupid box to be easier to use.

He drew in his magic tightly, trying to burry the LV under everything else. Though he didn’t stop the glare that was aimed at his brother.

“Finish up and then get to work.” Sans nodded quickly threw back his drink and was out of his seat before the air was able to get a chance to keep up. Even though he didn’t even short cut. “And you, I’d prefer it if you didn’t distract my brother, he has enough troubles as it is focusing on work without others distracting him.”

“Would you like some coffee?” Papyrus was taken aback for a moment. Not only was the question so out of place and completely off topic… no one had really ever taken the time to offer him coffee. The other skeletons even haven’t despite most of their caring natures, they only ever asked him over and then allowed him to do as he wished. They gave Raz the same treatment and he had to wonder faintly if it was the LV tainting their souls. 

He snorted looking away from the human and grounding out his reply. “Hardly, I don’t have time for breaks and frivolous activities, I have work to do.” He turned on his heels and left the human behind not wanting to deal with her courtesy. He was a Fell monster, he didn’t need courtesy or breaks. He was the Great and Terrible Papyrus, he could handle himself.

()_()

Sans had most of the cameras up, by the time the day was half done. Of course that didn’t make up for his previous laziness. It did however, put them on schedule and made sure they were going to get the electronic side of their job done faster. Then again, Sans would do anything to make sure there was more time to laze around later if he had the chance. At least Papyrus could be reassured that he was doing the job right, just so he wouldn’t have to redo it later. Which Papyrus would have undoubtedly made him do if he had done it half assed.

Papyrus cursed when the vibration of his phone in his pocket made him jump. Usually, he wouldn’t barely flinched, but he wan’t expecting any form of a phone call today. Much less one from Stretch with the horrid ringtone he had somehow programmed into his phone.

“Yes?” Papyrus clipped out, setting his hammer down and glaring at the wood board in front of him.

“hey edgy, just phoning to tell you and your brother that me and blue will be out of town for a while, got this thing to do for the embassy.” A commotion started up in the background and he could hear Stretch sigh and the flicker of a lighter. “is red there?”

“Yes he is, what does the Embassy want with you? You don’t work for them.” Papyrus peeked around the house to see his brother installing a camera in some bush. His long legs carrying him over to the short gremlin that was his brother.

“ah, blame my heroic ass for that one, asgore’s calling in favours because of it, and blue is dishing out promises so i’m kinda in a pickle.”Papyrus’s nudged Sans with his foot, alerting his brother of his needed attention. “no idea when i’ll be getting back, but if i have my way it won’t be very long.”

“I can only imagine, I have Sans here now.” Sans looked up at him curiously, glancing between his face and the phone. “Would you like speaker or just to hand the phone over?”

“speakers alright, no secretes here, no bones about that.” Papyrus quickly wrenched the phone from his head and turned the speaker on for Sans to hear what ever the straggly idiot had to say. “hey there bud, supposed to tell ya that your boxy thing blew up again, sans in fine, but his phone was a casualty and he needs assistance with the fall out.”

Sans’s face paled, if that was possible, and stood up quickly to start putting things away. “i’ll be ‘ere soon.”

“yeah, well i’ll see ya around red, bye edgy.” The phone disconnected leaving the two in muffled silence.

Papyrus knew that an explosion was no laughing matter, especially when it came to the un-named box. Magic and electricity did not combined well when it didn’t have a catalysis, or the catalysis didn’t do it’s job. Of course that also meant that Sans wouldn’t get the cameras done today, and would be missing twice the amount of work then usually.

“Sans.” He drew out the word warningly, causing his brother to stiffen and look at him. His whole expression was conflicted as if he was debating on teleporting before hearing what was to be said and actually staying to listen.

“i know boss, ‘ut this could be serious and i’ll be damned if anyone is ‘urt by ‘at stupid thing.” His New Home accent started too slur into his words more than usual, his worry almost palpable. For some reason Papyprus found himself nodding.

“I am aware of the unstablness of an uninstalled box Sans, I wasn’t saying you couldn’t go, but I expect you to be early tomorrow.” Sans seemed to deflate at hearing that. His eyes hopeful now.

“sure thing boss, promise.” With that he was gone and leaving behind a very tired-with-this-shit Papyrus. At least Sans had promised, but that could go as far as him being a minute earlier than his usual time. The gremlin always had a knack for finding loop holes, especially when he doesn’t specify what he’s promising.

The human’s offer from before was starting to wiggle in his thoughts. The wakening ability of coffee did sound tempting right about now, but he always has preferred tea over anything. However, he rather let the world burn down than take his words from earlier back. He was a monster of his pride after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try to reply to all comments, but I will warn you now I may come off very vague if you ask a question that could potentially spoil something in the story. Just to let you know, and thanks for reading.


	6. The Cursed Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why does everyone have to keep using that word?

Sans took the end half of the next day off to help the bone bag edit the plans of the Box, and hopefully give the god awful thing a name. Of course that also left him alone to work on the security system. He was forced to put aside the fence for the time being and work on electrical. He could do it, but Sans was generally the one to handle anything remotely technological, while he did more of the laborious jobs and dealt with the costumer. Their plan worked wonderfully, unless Sans was gone. Then he would have to do the work he wasn’t accustomed to and possibly mess up something with Sans’s already placed cameras.

Then again he probably could do it quite easily if it weren’t for the fact that his brother’s work had a specific order. For how lazy his brother was, he made quite confusing, but organized systems, ones that Papyrus couldn’t figure out of the life of him. Which was maddening because he always liked a good puzzle.

Every time he installed anything behind Sans, he found himself befuddled, and every time he found himself cursing every swear under the sun when ever he got shocked by something. He was just glad he wasn’t doing repairs after the Box had been placed. That, would have spelled disaster with a capital D.

By the time he had placed one camera he wanted this day to be over, or his brother to magically appear. Even if he knew the likeliness of that to happen would be very slim. On a microscopic level of slim.

“Ah, Edge?” Papyrus cringed at the nickname, hating every time it was used. He hated it even more when he was forced to make everyone else perceive it as his real name. The ammo it gave the pun lovers was unreal and he had suddenly found himself hating the bone bag just a little more.

“Yes human?” He entered the living room, where the human was doing yet another puzzle. This one however look like it was 3D and vibrant shades of different gradients.

“Well first off my name isn’t human, it’s Ebony, and secondly is everything…” She glanced away picking at a plastic piece with her finger nails before continuing. “I never heard anyone swear that much, I mean be-shitted? I didn’t even know there was such a swear, and the static didn’t sound fun either, I guess I’m just trying to ask if you’re alright?”

She continued to glance at him, as he stayed silent. Never before had anyone asked if he was the one alright. They just assumed he was so long as he wasn’t dust. His swearing and anger they all just saw as normal ‘Edge’ behaviour, and it was, sorta, but it always had a reason. Stretch and Rus were about the only ones who seemed to know something was bothering him. He was sure Raz would as well if he actually took a moment to pull his head out of his ass. That being said, Stretch and Rus could sense intent much better than anyone. It also helped that they were probably the closest he has gotten to calling anyone friend aside from Undyne.

No, when ever anyone used alright in sentence towards him it was usually about his brother, or their relationship, or their home life. Never was it if he was okay, if he was hurt, if he needed help. No he was to ‘full of LV’ to be asked such a thing, he’s never hurt he only hurts others.

Now though, this human was asking him. Someone who didn’t know a single thing about him, aside from his quick temper and bossy attitude. The human who never left her couch was asking _him_ if he was alright.

“Quite, just trying to work around my brother’s wiring.” He met her eyes then, such a brilliant shade of green, much like the colour of bamboo.

“Why do you do that?” Now he was confused.

“Do what?” Her eyes seemed to catch a strike of seriousness as she looked down at her puzzle and placed two pieces together.

“Speak about him like he’s a burden.” Papyrus’s shoulder’s stiffened and he looked away from the human with nothing short of a scowl.

“Force of habit.” That seemed to have caught her attention, eyes shifting to curios and a bit miffed. Questions seemed to write themselves over her face, and her mouth couldn’t seem to choose which one to form. “If it will make you feel better _Ebony,_ I will leave a first aid kit in your kitchen for any injuries and our monster medical unit’s number with it, now if you will excuse me, I have a job to do.”

Stupid, nosey, humans. Damn all of them and their curiosity. Curiosity get’s you killed just like Burgerpants’s cousin a few year back when he was snooping in Catty and Bratty’s store. He _really_ need to write in the contract that the house owners have to be out of the house during working hours. It would save his sanity, and possible the human’s life.

()_()

“EDGE!” He could barely prevent himself from cringing away from the loudness that was Paps. One time in his life had he sounded like that, but years of damage to his voice had made it the scratchy baritone that it was now.

“Hello Papyrus.” He greeted curtly as he glanced around him and to the couch where two passed out skeleton’s lay.

“HAVE YOU EATEN SUPER YET?” Paps question as he led him in and to the kitchen.

His next words not coming to him as an insult, but as a need to get home and to his bed. “I haven’t, but I’d like to bring Sa-Red home and get some rest.”

Paps nodded as if he agreed, spinning off that beaming smile that he seemed to be the only one to sport. “WHY OF COURSE EDGE, BUT I AT LEAST INSIST THAT YOU TAKE SOME LEFT OVERS WITH YOU.” Of course Paps wouldn’t even let him argue, as he was already pulling a container out of the fridge for him.

“I- thank you Papyrus.”Ever time he said those words they were a bit easier to form. With Papyrus they were easiest to say because even if you didn’t say them he some how knew any way so you might as well say them anyway. His knowledge of when people should be praised and when he should be disappointed in them was uncanny, so much so the he refused to test it out. A disappointed Paps was one no one wanted to face even on a good day.

He pried his brother away from the bone bag without waking either, twisting Sans so he could easily be carried while leaving one of his hands open. When he had gotten the message from Paps saying he needed to be picked up, he was a little irritated as Sans could just teleport home. However, he came anyway. His brother was lazy and unproductive most of the time, but when it came to science he tended to put a bit more magic into it than normal, and as such tired out his reserves much faster than normal. Even more so when that stupid box was involved.

“I HERE THE HUMAN YOU ARE WORKING FOR LOVES PUZZLES.” He glanced at Paps as he spoke, taking a moment to pick up his brother’s muddy boots from the floor.

“As far as I can tell they do, unless they're torturing themselves by doing ten a day.”He balanced the spaghetti on his arm with the shoes on top, dropping he voice as to not stir the skeleton in his arms.

“PUZZLES ARE A DELIGHT, NOT TORTURE, BUT YOU SHOULD TELL THE HUMAN ABOUT MY PUZZEL CLUB, I AM POSITIVE SHE WILL LIKE IT!” Papyrus hummed in agreement as he opened the door, letting a small wind enter the house. “OH AND EDGE?”

“Yes Papyrus?” He questioned as he paused, holding the door open with his foot.

“AH, YOUR BROTHER SEEMS MORE TIRED THAN USUAL…” his voice dropping to nearly a whisper as he went on, “I was wondering if everything was alright.”

That stupid word again, alright, a mock on his very existence. Why everyone had to wonder he didn’t understand, what he understood even less was, why everyone assumed he was the one always in the wrong. Yes he wasn’t the best person and he did questionable things in the past, but everything he did before was a necessity in keeping them alive. Besides things had changed, he was more informed than he was back then and it was safer here. He would never hurt his brother unless it was to keep him alive, and that wasn’t a necessity here, and never would be ever again. Even if it was he probably wouldn’t be able to hurt him now knowing what he does.

“Everything is fine, I’m sure it’s just some night terrors, he gets them just like your Sans does.” Paps immediately calmed from the fidgeting of before and gave a timid smile.

“I SEE, HAVE A GOOD NIGHT EDGE, WISH RED A GOOD NIGHT FOR ME ASWELL IF HE WAKES.” Papyrus just nodded and closed the door.

He wasn’t lying when he taught it was night terrors, his brother did get them from time to time. Hell he did as well and some times his morning jog was at midnight instead of five. It was strange how as soon as you were out of the living nightmare the real ones came with a vengeance.

Sans shifted in his arms, mumbling in his sleep. Papyrus had promised to protect him, the collar being a sign of that, and he be damned if he didn’t. He wasn’t one to break promises to his brother nor go back on his word. If nightmares were plaguing him then he would just have to protect him from those as well. Even if it meant sacrificing his own sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might get a chapter up Sunday yet. I have all of next week off so I can put more time into art and writing. Hopeful I can also go back and edit some of the earlier chapters, I noticed a few spelling errors that are bothering me horribly. Now I just got to figure out how.
> 
> I'm also quite curious on what you guys think on the Fell's relationship? Or Edge's relationship with anyone for that matter.


	7. Four Letter Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge loses it a little bit and why can things never go his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter and kinda sucks, but I need this to happen for character building and where things gotta go next.

The human jumped as the business card landed in her lap, her eyes wide in surprise. Her fingers were quick to pick up the card, as she read it over. She looked back up at him, her eyes sparkling as she spoke.

“A puzzle club! That’s so cool, how did you hear about this?” She buzzed with excitement as she read over the card again, and again, and again.

“A… family member of mine runs it and he heard you like puzzles, he requested I give you one.” Papyrus looked away from her as he spoke, but continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye. He watched as she read the card again, and as she did her smile fell more and more.

“Man I would love to go, but I can’t… this would have been so cool.” She set the card beside her puzzle just in the edge of her view and gave him a smile. “Tell him thank you for the offer though, I really appreciate it.”

He watched the human curiously for another moment before he turned on a sharp heel and headed back to help Sans with the cursed balcony. However, the humans decline confused him. Not only is the human home everyday and doing puzzles, they don’t seem to pertain any sort of job, and unless they had other priorities every time that day of the week, which would be unlikely especially since she was here one of those days already, then she had little reason to say no.

Papyrus’s mind reeled back to the Underground, sticking Sans at home sometimes for weeks because shit was hitting the fan. He wouldn’t let Sans do anything for that period in time, just stay at home. The only thing his brother ever enjoyed about it was the time to sleep.

He knew she had a brother, one paying for their service and probably everything else. The car in the garage probably hasn’t been used in years and she has done the same puzzle four times the past few days. So either she really likes that one or she is out of puzzles. So perhaps it isn’t that she can’t go, but maybe she’s not allowed.

“If it’s because of transportation, I can drive you, the doors should be in that day and it would allow for us to work more easily.” She almost looked guilty then, giving a weak smile.

“Nothing like that, I have an appointment that day, so I’ll probably be gone that whole day anyway.” She glanced back at the card again. “But... maybe next time I’ll be able to go.”

Papyrus relaxed, which was odd since he couldn’t remember tensing. He just hated the thought of someone being like him, the relationship being like his and Sans’s previous one. He was almost... glad to know that wasn’t the case.

“I will leave you to your puzzles then human.”

“It’s Ebony!”

Papyrus just smirked. Paps always called humans, humans because that was just how Paps rolled. Himself on the other hand did it mostly to get a rise out of the humans in question. In the Underground it was an intimidation tactic here it was plain fun. He’d only use a person’s name if they earned his respect first. So far this human hadn’t, even if he was taking the time to actually speak to her. His own kindness just a shadow of a small portion of what he’d like to be able to do for his own brother.

His own brother who fears him, who had obeyed him, who hates him if not the very Earth that he stood on.

He missed... he missed those few tender years before shit went into a hand basket and got dumped on their heads. He had been ungrateful for those days. Too quick to jump the boat and right into danger everyday.

“Edge?” His magic flared in surprise, a weapon almost being conjured, but fizzing out in his hand in a shower of sparks. His one glowing eye trained on the human, a fraction away from having their soul turned blue. Her own eyes staring impossibly wide and fearful in his direction.

_No, no, no, nononono._ He covered his eye quickly and stumbled from the room. Magic coursing through his bones as a red haze in his mind. His feet quickly carrying him out the door and to the truck, his mind on automatic as he climbed in and drove.

_Fear, fear, fear, fear of him, fear of what he can do, fear of what he almost did, fear, fear, fear._

That look wasn’t one of just fear, it was horror. The same horror one of his victims would give him before they dusted. The same look, it was always the same look. The one that haunted his dreams, the one he was always running from even in his own brother, even now. The human didn’t deserve that look, no one ever did. Yet here he was given them reason to have it.

_Hate, hate, hate, he hated what he was, hated what he did, hated everything, hate, hate, hate. He hated himself._

()_()

“lead tha way, i’ll fo’low ya anywher’.”

()_()

_“SANS! I HAVE COME UP WITH A WONDERFUL IDEA!” Papyrus tugged on Sans’s hoodie as the skeleton burred his face a little deeper into the ratty cushions of the couch. A muffled groan leaving his teeth and the smell of mustard and booze hitting Papyrus strongly._

_Papyrus’s crinkled his nasal passage in response to the over powering smell. His hand tugging on his brother’s arm sharply and causing him to spring up with a gasp and a flare of magic. His glowing eyes trained on Papyrus, small and fuzzy with booze. He blinked a few times and the pinpricks focused a bit and he gave Papyrus a tired smile._

_“what cha need, paps?” He made the effort to sit up and give Papyrus the image of put together with very little success. A Temmie could act better than a drunk Sans and those devils could barely fake anger._

_“I WANT TO JOIN THE ROYAL GAURD, THEN I CAN PROTECT US BOTH, YOU SHOULD JOIN AS WELL BROTHER THEN EVERYONE WOULD FEAR US INSTEAD OF US HAVING TO HIDE!” Papyrus stood proudly as he waited for his brother’s reaction, but none was coming. Papyrus looked at his brother then, watching his shrunken eyes and tight smile. All the confidence Papyrus had a moment ago leaving him._

_“paps-“_

_“NO, I CAN TELL WHEN YOU DON’T LIKE MY IDEAS, BUT! YOU DON’T NEED TO PARTICIPATE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO!” Papyrus fixed his shirt and stood a little taller. “I’LL START TRAINING WITH UNDYNE, SHE WANTS TO JOIN THE GAURD AS WELL!”_

_Sans gave him a sad smile then and stood with a pop of every bone. “ya kno’ perfectly ‘ell why ‘at’s a ‘ad ‘dea pap.” Sans headed for the door then, Papyrus watching as he went._ _Watching as he tugged on his wet work boots and pulled on the jacket Papyrus can't remember him not having._

_“I DO KNOW, BUT IF IT TURNS OUT WELL IT WILL BE A GREAT IDEA! EVEN MORE SO IF I BECOME THE CAPTAIN OF THE GAURD!” Papyrus watched as fear over took Sans’s features, a tung running over the empty space in his teeth and then a glare setting in place._

_“no.”_

_“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAY SANS, I’M DOING IT, YOU CAN’T BE THE ONLY ONE WORKING.”_

_“no.”_

_“I’M GOING!” Papyrus glared right back at his brother and without another word stormed right past him and out of the house. He needed to do this for them, for him, because Sans was important to him no one else. He would lead him to where they needed to be._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a horrible human being, I know I said I'd have one up last Sunday, but you would be surprised how much people make you do even if you can't walk properly for three days. (Love volleyball, but I hate exercise.) I will absolutely try to get one up by next Sunday, I even have the chapter started this time, ya!


	8. After Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red worries and goes to work surprisingly.

Sans sat on the couch in their living room, watching Papyrus’s door. He could feel his brother’s magic humming from the other side, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him flinch. It was the whole reason he was awake at two in the morning, the only reason besides nightmares, insomnia, and the creeping feeling that he was forgetting something.

He would try to go comfort his brother, but Papyrus would only see ghosts that weren’t there and honestly, Sans didn’t want to. Not only was it extremely unlikely Papyrus would know when and where he was, but who Sans was as well, and Sans didn’t want to be mistaken for Jerry or some shit.

The brother’s night terrors were always so realistic, so much so that it didn’t always fully leave them even when they were awake.

He could only guess at what Papyrus dreamed about that haunted him so. This dream must have been triggered by what ever the human had done to spook him and leave in the hurry that he did. Then again who was he to judge, he almost murdered Frisk when he saw them in this world because he thought they were holding a knife. On the bright side he wasn’t apparently the only one to attempt it.

He knew his brother wasn’t fully there today anyway, so he should have kept a better eye on him. Papyrus had been acting distant and jumpy since the beginning of that morning, bags under eyes and drinking an extra cup of coffee that wasn't strictly necessary. Maybe he had a nightmare the night before too, Sans himself wouldn’t have known himself he had drunk so much Mustard the night before he was almost comatose. Dreams even evaded his breath.

Of course he took the time after Papyrus’s great flee to tell Ebony that Papyrus reacted badly too surprises and when people tried to wake him up from anything. They came from a bad place, that was easy enough to tell, but he didn’t think Ebony truly knew how bad until she witness what she did.

He always liked talking to her. She wasn’t some dumb human, she knew things, understood all the best jokes, and held a conversation. Of course with the amount of puzzles she did and all the science books laying around her house he supposed she kept her mind sharp enough to do so.

Another thing he really liked about this job was that it was at the very edge of town where the smug started to receded, and if they were there long enough he would start to see a few stars. Ebony told him that from late spring to early fall all you could see was stars and in the winter if it wasn’t cloudy you would see stars and maybe just maybe the northern lights with it.

In all honesty he would pay anything to see that, but he knew he would have to be patient with it.

A flare of magic brought his attention to the door again and he decided faintly that Papyrus would stay home from work even if Sans had to tie him to his bed.

He had to smile at that thought, a month ago, hell a week ago he wouldn’t had even thought of it, now he was planning all kinds of ways for him to be his own person again. The surface and the Classics were doing all kinds of stuff for his mental health, it also helped that Papyrus was getting better at letting him be his own person. If Sans knew all it would take was spill his metaphorical guts to his brother he would have done it years ago. Maybe, if he could catch himself on one of his good days.

Sans ran a hand over his cracked socket, not quite a mirror image to his brother’s, being on the opposite side and being more of spider webbed cracks than the large fractures that over took his brother’s left eye. If only they had made up before either of them got their cracks, but at those points there wasn’t much to make up for.

He glanced at the clock again seeing it had much past his brother’s wake up time of five. Maybe he wouldn’t have to tie him to the bed, he would just sleep right through work. That was fine by him, meant he didn’t have to drug him to be compliance. Of course that didn’t kill Sans’s worry, because he had every reason to worry. He’s brother was being very unlike his brother, and he just hopped it wouldn’t get as bad as when they first came here. That was a day he really didn’t want to remember.

He supposed he should get himself ready for work, since he had extra to do today and extra breaks to take.

()_()

Ebony was sitting on the couch when he arrived, just as he guessed. Going through yet another puzzle like it was candy. He wondered if that was a thing, candy puzzles. Blue would probably like those.

The human glanced up at him and then glanced around him, her body deflating as she did. He could see what she was going to say written right across her soul before she even spoke, but it didn’t surprise him any less when she did.

“I didn’t scare him away did I?” Sans could barely hear her whispered voice, but then again he didn’t think anyone would hear anything over the belly rolling laugh that emitted from his mouth.

“ _you scare ‘im off_ , that’s a real kicker, that only thin’ that scares that idiot off is ‘imself.” Sans fell into the only other chair and gave her an amused smile. “trust me doll, he don’t scare easy if any thing he was just having an off day.”

“oh, okay.” She stuttered quietly and then placed a piece in her puzzle again her gaze flickering between him and her puzzle, it was almost humorous. “Is there something else you needed?”

“Just takin’ my break, I’m in need of a dirt nap.” Her eyes lite up then in mirth and he had to smile himself. Human successfully cheered now if only he could keep it up while he rewired the cameras Papyrus screwed up. If anything he learned his lesson not to let Papyrus take on the electrical jobs. Papyrus could make it up to him by handling the down stairs windows.

()_()

When Sans returned home he had too breath a sigh of relief. Not only was there the heady scent of lasagne floating in the air, there wasn’t a hint of stray magic accompanying it. So maybe Sans could sleep a bit easier tonight.

He entered the kitchen to find his brother dishing out plates as calm as a jellyfish. It was only slightly reassuring if only Sans wasn’t such a great judge of character and couldn’t see how fuzzy Papyrus’s eyes were, or the way his fingers clenched everything just a bit too tight. He was still being bothered by something and Sans couldn’t do a thing unless Papyrus came to him first. He would have to sit and watch like a fool and hope a little extra sleep calmed his brother down to something more level headed.

For now he would sit and smile and roll with what ever was thrown his way. If Papyrus was trying hard to be a good brother then he could try too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have this apology chapter for the lateness and sucky ness of the filler chapter. Here take it, and I totally didn't write this right after I posted the last one to now.


	9. Shattered Across Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yet another mess for Edge to clean up, and he really can't handle his brother right now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I'm just being a writeaholic... could have saved this for next Sunday... coulda woulda shoulda... nah

Papyrus was an idiot. He could of stopped all of this from happening if he handled himself better and took his time, but no he just had to ease Sans’s nightmare’s and put himself into one. Did he really scare the human? Did he run away like a wimp? God he doesn’t even know and that’s what bothers him most.

When his mind starts to blur together what was real and what wasn’t never ended well. He was generally able to keep himself in line, to realize where the line was and where it wasn’t, but when it was bad he wished he had the foresight to lock himself in his room even if it were to end up more work than it was worth.

He could always ask Sans, but he still wasn’t fully there as he had stiffed another of Sans’s nightmares with his magic, something Sans use to do for him when he was young and afraid of the dog guard. It was something close to healing magic, but focuses more on the mental form of the monster and not the magical.

Of course the backlash of doing it though was that the dream was redirected at him and he had to endure what ever his brother’s mind had conjured up. The last one had been… a little more than what Papyrus had expected and he had been stuck in that state for who knows how long.

He just hoped that the repercussions weren’t bad. He couldn’t deal with another Lesser Dog accident. One time trapped in snow-art was one time to many in his books thank you very much. The less anyone knew about that the better, it was unknown of here even from Sans thankfully.

He rubbed at his sockets, the cracks in his one eye aching something fierce. He blamed too much coffee and too little sleep. At least Sans’s nightmare hadn’t been that bad last night. Maybe he could get through today without making a fool of himself. Oh wait, he’s already too late, he already done that.

He stared down at the pile of boxes covering the floor, his only saving grace being that they were taped shut. The sound had been like glass shattering to his ears and he had to wonder faintly if he had broken something in the mess before him.

Another thing he should add to the contract, remover irreplaceable breakables they might break.

He was sure though it was just the puzzle pieces rattling around in their boxes. Almost completely positive.

“heh, looks like ya had a real falling out boss.” Oh joy the instigator joined the fray, he might not make it out unscathed.

“And it looks like you stuck you head up white board eraser, your point?” He raised an eyebrow to his red dusted brother, who released a breath between his teeth in amusement.

“ya got me ‘ere boss, i’ve been ‘aving an affair with an eraser, but don’t worry it’s a dry relationship.” Papyrus snorted at the sheer ridiculous amount of idiocy in that one sentence. Of course Sans always had an idiot’s way with words even when he wasn’t trying.

“I’m sure you have tons of fun, now get back to work, I have to clean this up before the human returns from where ever she left for the day.” Papyrus had a nagging fear that the human left because she was afraid of him, or worse yet, afraid and insulted. Paps would be disappointed in him for sure even if she knew the circumstances. 

“nah, think i’ll help ya out, the wiring is giving me nightmares.” Papyrus felt his eyes dilate at that, glancing over his brother and then putting on a sneer.

“Then you should go work them out.” Sans grinned and gave his brother a sharp look, one that took Papyrus aback, when he got thinking Sans had been a lot more snappish in his responses, almost like before he joined the guard. Though the look in his brother’s eye showed still some of that unsurfaced fear. Maybe Sans found a way to cope and this was it.

“that’s quite the tall order ‘ere boss, think ya can back it up?” He knew. Did he know? He must if he was testing him like this, testing his ability to flip back to the past. Why the hell did he have to know. “course i don’t think ya can, ya were a walking sleeper the other day, you might very well be hallucinating t’is.”

Papyrus let a growl rumble deep in his throat as a warning to his brother. Sans’s grinning only turning sharper, almost like that one time he stood over that Bunny monster that had spilled his ketchup all over his favourite jacket. “Like you can judge.”

Sans’s eyes flashed with warning and Papyrus knew full well that Sans knew exactly what he meant. He was just as bad if not worse for realizing just where he was after a particularly bad dream. At least Papyrus didn’t go around picking fights with violent idiots. He supposed that he was just glad it had been Raz who had been the target of that one and not any of the softer versions of themselves.

Sans snorted and glanced his red pinpricks over the mess and gave a sneer again. “fine, have it your way, just don’t come wining to me when ya lose a piece.” Sans turned on a heal and disappeared between one step and the next. Leaving Papyrus with a scowl and very little of his own dignity.

He had to get his head back into place. He would kill just to be back where he wanted to be, back to where he needed to be. If not to at least stop being the coward he was in his dreams where everyone can see him, because he wasn’t a coward, he really wasn’t. He just wanted to be a better monster while here, and when he saw that look… that look of disgusted horror, he just couldn’t, couldn’t stop thinking about the dust and the marrow. He couldn’t stop thinking of the looks he received, the one he had given, the ones he deserved. Then there were the ones that he wished to prevent with every fibre of his being.

That look on that face was one he had wished to prevent.

God he hopped Undyne was doing her god damned job for once in her life. If he knew that much, he might have been able to calm himself down some.

He clenched a gloved fist tight around one of the boxes, lifting it up off the floor and freezing in the next moment. Underneath the box was a tiny figure that looked like it had been whole once, maybe like some sort of puzzle.

He set the box aside and attempted to pick up the pieces, having to remove his gloves to do so. He turned the pieces inside his hand with sharp fingers and caught sight of tiny lettering etched into one of them.

_fly and be free of your burden._

It seemed to be only half of the saying _,_ but he couldn’t find the other piece, must of been in the mess. Papyrus figured it was a gift of sorts from someone, and he could faintly tell that the puzzle turned into some sort of butterfly… He should probably fix it, maybe as an apology to the human.

God he was such a fucking idiot. An even bigger one than his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I think I should explain. In chapter 7 (Four Letter Words) Edge had thought he was in a dream, because he thought when he came out of the one he took from Red he was still in it. This happens to the brothers very little, but when it does they tend to do stupid things as a result. Even more so if the dream was perceived as really happening or the dream was present time.
> 
> As for Red's snarkyness is because he's trying to be a "better" brother for Edge, by being the brother he use to be and we all know how well Sanss' are at acting.


	10. Blasted Into the Guard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus just wanted to join the guard, why did it have to be only hard for him?

_Undyne and him had train constantly. Setting up dummies and smashing them down, and sparing with each other. Of course it had been a lot harder for Papyrus to get stronger, lacking the magical muscles that most other monsters had. He was sturdy sure, but he had lacked the weight and the needed strength that Undyne excelled at._

_In the end Undyne dragged him to the ground and had him in a headlock, taking the time to give him noggies, more than he could get her on her ass. It was frustrating when he did the same amount of work if not more and was still weaker than his peers. Of course Papyrus didn’t have either of his parents and his brother was constantly at work or drunk, if not still angry at him. At least Undyne had her dad to show her the ropes._

_That, however, didn’t stop Papyrus from apply for the guard at the same time, or pushing himself to his absolute limits in order to get accepted along side her. He had goals, dreams, and he be damned if he didn’t make them come to fruition._

_Now Papyrus stood proudly beside Undyne, both clad in full armour and awaiting directions from the current Captain of the guard. He was a grouchy turtle, who had some how lived longer than their current king in this awful world. To Papyrus that just meant he had experience, that he could train Papyrus to be the best he could be and maybe one day give him the position of captain when the old coot retired. That was if Papyrus didn’t take it from him first._

_“Hmmm…” Her drew his attention to the turtle as he sized up them all, Papyrus trying to puff out his chest and stand taller. Undyne just grinned beside him._

_He cursed himself for being so short and thin, even Undyne who was about the same age as him was at least a foot taller than him. It also didn’t help that almost everyone else in the line was twice their age. He started to feel they were only using him and Undyne to fill spots, or maybe just him._

_“A promising group perhaps…” He stood straighter if at all possible to the maybe praise. “I am Gerson, but you will only refer to me as Captain or sir, and I suppose I should be welcoming you to the guard, but there isn’t much to welcome you to, most of you will probably be dead on the first day.”_

_Papyrus refused to shrink back when Gerson’s steely gaze landed on him, looking the old turtle straight in the eye. He refused to be belittled even if he was half the size as everyone else. One day he would be taller than them (Hopeful he didn’t get the same genes as Sans), one day he would lead them. He refused to back down._

_Gerson smiled as he continued. “I suppose it really depends on why you joined the guard in the first place, was it to hold power over others? I quick way to get EXP? Maybe just so you had all the benefits of the guard? I will tell you this now, none of that will be any good for you here, the only good guards are the ones here for the citizens and if you think otherwise, you might as well go and dust now cause I won’t have that in my guard.”_

_Some monsters shifted and Papyrus found his own thoughts in turmoil. Hadn’t he wanted to join the guard for the benefits, to give monsters reason to fear him and his brother? He hadn’t been doing this for the citizens at all, just his own selfish reasons. He thought of Sans then of how weak he was, how careless. He needed someone to protect him from harm, from any more hurt. He let pictures of other monsters filter through his mind, of the bunnies and the dogs, of the rock family and the Snowdrakes. Who would protect them if the guard didn’t? EXP hunters would kill them off. He supposed if he could be as great as he would be he could protect them, protect all of the Underground if it called of him._

_“I can already tell which ones you all are, tell which ones of you already changed your reasons and those of you who already had the thinking, so spare me the trouble and just leave.” Papyrus watched as almost half the group left and he still stood beside Undyne. He was surprised that she stayed, she had told him once that she only joined to make her father proud. Maybe her thinking changed or she was a very good faker. Papyrus felt it was the latter. “Good, good, some strong souls you are, now! Start running laps, I want you up and ready for guard positions by the end of the week, fall behind and your dismissed!”_

_They ran. He ran. He pushed himself hard to keep up with everyone else’s long strides. He pushed and pushed and yet still came out last. When the ran, when they did drills, when they sparred. Gerson would just shake his head and turn to praise how Undyne somehow managed to pin Lesser Dog down._

_When he got home that night he went to the shed and trained, barely tired, and even if he was the gnawing in his stomach would have kept him awake. For once again Snowdin was having a shortage and Sans could only scrap so much together for them to eat._

_Day after day he barely rested, and as he stood in line with bags under his eyes, watching with wavering pinpricks as more left the group he stood tall. He ran. He drilled. He sparred. He refused to quit even if it killed him. He was doing this for Sans, for Snowdin, for the Underground. He refused to quit._

_“Why don’t you just quit squirt?” Papyrus turned to face Gerson, immediately pulling him slumped and aching shoulders up and giving a salute. “You’re going to get yourself hurt.”_

_“SIR I REFUSE TO QUIT!” Papyrus watched as the old turtle squinted at him and looked him up and down._

_“And why don’t you? Whats your reason for being here squirt?” The turtle stepped closer, towering over Papyrus’s tiny build. He knew the turtle knew that he had discarded his stripes early to be let in._

_“AT FIRST FOR MY BROTHER SIR, BUT NOW FOR SNOWDIN AND THE UNDERGROUND.” Papyrus tried to push himself taller, straighter, bigger, but the armour still swallowed him, still dwarfed him. “FOR THE KING.”_

_“Your brother is Sans, correct.” Papyrus looked up at the turtle in surprise, he knew Sans some how. His lazy drunk brother. He hoped his brother’s reputation wasn’t ruining his._

_“YES SIR.” Papyrus watched as Gerson considered this, eyes raking over him as he did and he let himself smile tightly._

_“For one thing, your brother is a good enough reason to join the guard, family is precious in a world that rips it away without mercy, for a second thing if you can summon blasters like your brother I’ll let you continue in the guard, if not wait until you lost your strips boy.”_

_Gerson turned without another word and left Papyrus in his confusion. Blasters? His brother had taught him all the magic he knew, but blasters had never been mention. Making souls blue and bones he had shown him. He had tried to teach Papyrus shortcuts, he couldn’t do that he knew, but he could defy gravity. Blasters had never been mention._

_Papyrus just couldn’t believe that his position in the guard relied on his brother, his lazy drunk brother of all things._

_()_()_

_“no.”_

_“WHAT! WHY NOT? I NEED THEM TO GET INTO THE GUARD, YOU HAVE TO SHOW ME!”_

_“that’s exactly why I’m not showing you.”_

_Papyrus could feel his temper reeling. His brother wasn’t even looking at him. He had his back turned to him as he slumped over the table with a bottle of mustard in his hand, one of the last few in his emergency supply. He wasn’t even trying to help him, give him pointers, be a brother. He just ignored him._

_“FINE THEN! I’LL TEACH MYSELF AND SHOW YOU JUST HOW STRONG I AM.” Papyrus turned and stormed from the house again, Sans not stopping him yet again._

_It was infuriating how his brother belittled him. He didn’t ever help Papyrus with anything ever, and now he was on his own trying to figure out how to summon something he didn’t even know about until an hour ago._

_He felt his magic flare off the inside walls of the shed, bouncing around and back into him. He was Papyrus he could do this. He just had to think blaster, a canon and push his magic into it. Just like summoning bones but bigger. He could do it._

_()_()_

_He couldn’t do it, couldn’t even summon a spark anymore. Maybe he didn’t have the ability like Sans. Maybe Blasters had something to do with Sans’s shortcuts and that’s why he couldn’t do them. No Sans said he wouldn’t teach him, not that he couldn’t learn. He could do this._

_His magic sparked and then fizzed out as he tried to summon a Blaster again. He felt the hunger gnaw harder, the exhaustion creeping in. He needed to stay awake and do this. Just summon one no matter how tiny._

_He pulled at the last dredges of his magic again and just thought how he wasn’t to destroysomething, anything in his frustrations. There was a sharp wine and then a beam of light past by him and destroyed one of the near by crates._

_Papyrus only caught a glimpse of a floating skull, of smoke and raw magic, and then promptly fainted. He did it, he had summoned a Blaster. He could stay in the guard. Now he just had to grow a few feet._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another bit of the past, that I totally didn't write in an hour give or take some time. If you're wondering how old Edge is, he's young, young enough that he hasn't quite reached his growth spirts. He is tall for his age though, Undyne being a year or two older and also tall for her age. So he's the youngest and shortest, and trying to give the impression that he's older than he is.


	11. Debi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Debi appears, Edge is mortified, Ebony tries to talk, and a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some theme music for the two brothers:  
> Red: Round and Round by Imagine Dragons  
> Edge: Without You by Avicii

He had been so certain that he would be able to avoid that human for the duration of the job. He had been so certain and yet he still found himself trying to dodge the woman's grabby hands.

"Edgy! You should have told me you were around, I would have made you cookies!" He was defiantly not eating anything she made or take anything that woman tried to give him. "Oh my have you been working out more, your bones look so much stronger!"

He watched as his brother retreated to the house snickering the whole way and purposely not catching his brother's eyes as he did. He would get his revenge on Sans's betrayal later, at the moment he had to make sure the woman didn't try to latch onto his arm.

"Have you considered, my offer, I'd be happy to cash in anytime!" Papyrus felt his teeth turn into a scowl as he glared at the human, hating every moment of this. He should walk away, far away and yet Paps would some how figure out and would frown at him for the next week. "Of course I wouldn't mind if you couldn't help me any, I can still maybe help you."

Dear Asgore he wasn't having this conversation again was he. He was going to walk away, yet somehow the woman got an arm around his and was now trailing a finger down his sternum.

"I would prefer it if you didn't." He grasps her wrists and pulled away from her, taking a few large steps away from her before releasing her. "Aside from that, I have a job to do."

She glanced at the house and snorted at the sight of it, her smile turning sickly sweet. "Come on Edgy, that silly thing doesn't need your..." the human stepped forward as she trailed off and tried to touch him again, emphasis on try.

"Deb." He growled grabbing her wrists once again before she could touch him. He hated having to use her name, but it was the only way she ever paid attention to anything he said. Even if she seemed too blush and become more insistent with her flirting after. "No, not only are you married with children, but I have to do my job and I'm not interested."

Her lips drew into a pout as she tried to shimmy closer to him. "But Edgy we got a divorce, I'm completely single."

"No." He dropped her hands and quickly stormed into the house faintly aware of the woman's eyes on his ass until he closed the door. A shiver running up his spine when he was finally free. Even all of Muffet's flirtations didn't compare to the crawling that woman's words left on his bones.

"still 'ave your stalker edgy?"

"Shut, up." Sans just grinned as Papyrus glared and promptly disappeared when Papyrus took a swipe at his head. Why was it that everyone wanted to antagonize him today? That Asgore damned woman and her grabby hands and now his brother.

()_()

Papyrus purposely avoided the puzzle room in which the human resided. Hearing her grumbling about the organization and something missing. Of course Papyrus knew what had been missing, it was sitting on his desk almost fixed and would be returned soon. That of course didn't mean that hearing the human's mutterings didn't make him anymore guilty. Even more so, when the human decide to try and talk to him or get his own brother to fetch him multiple times. Every single time he was able to invade both in turn to either work on the fence of continue the prep work for the windows.

What he was failing at, was trying to not overhear everything the human and his brother talked about. Sans had been taking full advantage of his avoidance to slack off and chattered with the human more than Papyrus liked. Not that Sans couldn't have friends, he just didn't need Sans talking to his friends about Papyrus's own personal issues.

Yes he had nightmares, yes he sometimes didn't realize when he wakes up like walking in one giant dream. Yet, Sans would do just them same thing and everyone was lucky if they didn't find a bone embedded in their chest every time it happened. _He_ could control himself, Sans couldn't.

He supposed he was a little glad that he wouldn't have to explain himself to the human much more than what Sans had already said. He would just have to apologize like society expected of him and they could go their separate ways. Sans on the other hand seemed to be making plans for coffee and what other shenanigans he had on his mind. Papyrus could probably win a bet on how many of which the Bone Bag would be involved in, and the answer would be all of them.

He wasn't sure how much he liked his brother hanging out with the human in general though, but it could be easily explained. They were still ingraining themselves into the world and into society and they weren't quite stable enough yet to be considered decent enough people to be called friends. They weren't in the right states of minds for friends and they both knew it.

His brother was making a show of it though. Even drew in a promise at how serious he was, and Papyrus knew for a fact that the human wouldn't know how important that was to his brother. How a promise wasn't something that Sans broke like how Sans still carried around a small pebble he had given him and made him promise to hold of it as a child. Sans just didn't roll that way.

The days right between when they had left the capital and Sans cracked under the pressure of one too many jobs and the other various problems of life. When Papyrus was just a bit more carefree and Sans didn't know the word filter, were when the most important promises were made. As such he could admit that his brother was a brilliant actor, even now he almost has everyone convinced he's alright and playing through an older version of himself.

If only Papyrus didn't know any better and could live in arrogant bliss.

()_()

Papyrus watched the road in the quietness of the truck. The street lights illuminated the inside of the cab whenever he passed one. The seat empty beside him.

Sans had left early to complete the Box meant for the human's house. Tomorrow the windows would be in, on time and not late like he had been lead to believe, and they would change them, then the day after the doors. On that same day, they would install the Box and a few last-minute checks and then they would be done with the house and he would hopefully never have to face the human again. He was sure he could avoid her with how well he had been able to after that dream walking accident.

It helped that he stuck to working on the fence and other small bits and she stayed inside.

Tomorrow he also planned to return the figurine he had found and fixed. Then he would apologize and then promptly not speak to her until he asked about how exactly her brother was paying. That should be an interesting conversation since they hadn't met the dotting brother once. Papyrus found that extremely weird as the brother visited often if the state of the human's house had anything to say about that, her brother being worse than his own at cleaning and it showed.

Sans, on the other hand, was trying. He slipped up a few times as did Papyrus, but they were getting along and Sans was getting better around him. Every day there was just a little less fear.

His phone went off. He considered ignoring it, he was driving, but no one ever called him let alone at this time. He supposed it could of been Stretch who forgot about timezones again, but it was very unlikely. It could be an emergency.

He answered the phone quickly and was cut off by the repeated phrase of 'Please' whispered quietly.

"Human?" He heard a sharp gasp and a shuffle, something shatter and then a murmur.

"Please help." The phone cut off right after and Papyrus slammed on the breaks. The truck screeched to a halt, the smell of burnt rubber filling the air through the vents. He had been lucky no one else had been on the road for he might have been rear-ended. He let his phone drop to the ground and quickly turned the truck around, his speed by far pushing the limit, but he made sure watch for others.

Even then he didn't have much time to be cautious. He wasn't sure what had the human calling him of all people. Could have been that he had just been there or that strange reason for her trusting him from earlier, but she was scared and needed help. Her voice had shaken, quiet whispers of noise. She had asked him for help, from something, someone and he would do just that.

Of course, it had to happen just before the house was burglar-proof. Just before he could apologize to the human properly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might have another chapter up this weekend, might not. Depends how invested I get into writing the other books to this series, so sorry for the cliffhanger. Also for some reason I can't remember what I had named the annoying human nor can I find it so her name is Debi now.


	12. Bloody Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge answers the call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably should have done this in the first chapter, but I forgot so, as a general warning this comic contains violence, blood, panic attacks, and various other triggers so read at your own risk.

Papyrus pulled sharply in front of the human's house, careful not to squeal the tires and alert anyone of his presence. Even shutting off the truck and exiting it had been made as quiet as it could be. Cation was important, it was even more important when you didn't know what you were walking into and your destination was pitch black.

Papyrus creeped up the steps, carful of the squeaky third one, and placed a bare hand against the wood. The door handle was still intact, but the door around it looked like a sledge hammer had struck it to splinters. Of course that only made it easier for him to push the door open silently, only to pause when the silent ring of a bell filled the hallow air.

Papyrus cursed himself for forgetting that little tidbit about the human, she had an early warning system. He carefully reached into the house and grabbed the bells before slipping inside. He released them gently and sent magic into his eyes so that he could see in the tiny hall. The door to his right was thrown open and a quick glimpse of a bedroom showed a thrown about mess. Large grunting ahead signalled him where the possible threat was, but that left the matter of where the human was.

He creeped towards the living room listening as a human cursed and something was thrown out of the room and shattered against the opposite wall. A light flashed over the doorway and then the cursing began again followed by a shout.

"NO!" That had been the human. Papyrus raced forward into the room, catching the humans eyes as she struggled against her attacker. Her arms twisting about as she tried to gain some sort of leverage against him. Papyrus's barely registering a flash of metal before he moved in for the attack.

His magic flashed as he smashed a fist into the face of the attacker, forcing him to drop the human and the flashlight to go skidding. The room emptied into darkness as Papyrus threw another fist, trying not to use his magic and given the humans reason to later arrest _him_ instead.

The human fought back, a blade flashing red against Papyrus's magic as he was lifted off the ground. The next moment the human was being slammed into the wooden floor and the knife only managed a nick before it clattered to the floor along side the human. Papyrus went to punch the man again, but a sharp kick to his spine sent him staggering backwards and into the coffee table. Puzzle pieces scattered across the room and glass dug into his back through his jacket.

There had been another human? How? He had only heard the one and if he sensed for soul signatures he could only feel the two. How was there three?

He quickly reeled in his magic before it could rebuke without his instruction and he shut his eye lights off as well so they would have a harder time tracking him. The next moment he was on his feet and grabbing the second human to throw into a book case across the room.The first human was still winded so he took some time to focus on the current attacker who was pulling himself out of the splintered bookshelf.

The human lashed out at him in the dark and Papyrus was quick to grab one of his arms and twisted it, the bone snapping cleanly and the pitched scream told him just how much it had hurt the human. That, however, didn't deter the human and they attempted a punch. Papyrus caught this one and swung the human around and straight into the floor, the force of the move dislocating the human's arm from its socket and causing another scream.

Papyrus grunted when a knife found its way into his ribs the next moment, twisting and soaking his jacket in marrow. He was quick to turn and grab the first human, the knife turning with the movement and drawing the wound deeper. The human struggled against his grip and in turn, Papyrus kicked the human's legs out from under him and then ground his foot into the human's sternum.

The human chocked back a groan, grasping at Papyrus's leg. He let his eye flicker back to life as he gave the human a predatory grin. "Time to take out the trash, wouldn't you think human?" The human shook his head quickly and Papyrus pressed harder, feeling the bones crack under his boot. "Then sleep." Papyrus lifted his foot and in one quick motion brought it down onto the human's leg, possibly shattering the bone. The human screamed, but it died away as Papyrus ground his foot into the leg and the human's pain overcame him.

Papyrus drew away and reached back, prying the knife from his back and tossing it to the ground far away from either human. One human passed out and the other unable to use either arm and was in too much pain to attempt to get up. Papyrus could feel the EXP flow within his magic, swirling hungrily as the victory gave him yet another LV. Pity, he thought the humans would be tougher than that.

Papyrus hit the light switch next and light flooded the room, a slight shock to his poor eye sockets, but nothing unbearable. He then focused his magic and sensed out the human knowing she was in the house, but not where. All the light told him of, was a shattered coffee table and a broken bookshelf and all the red that was staining the floor was his.

He found the human crouched in between the two chairs in the room with her head down between her knees. Why she didn't try to leave he wasn't sure, but shock did strange things to people, monsters included.

"Ebony?" The human flinched and lifted her head slowly to stare back at him. Shifting a blanket off the couch he threw it over her shoulders and tried to pull his face into anything that wasn't a scowl. Little to say he was sure he was failing at it. "I'm going to pick you up alright?" She took a moment to respond, slowly nodding her head and gripping at her newly acquired blanket. An image of a frightened child stared at him, dust and blood covering them, their HP slowly falling away.

He shifted forward and lifted her up, careful to shield her face from the massacre that was her living room. She clung back to him desperately, digging her face into the front of his black shirt. It wasn't long before he began to feel moisture soak into his shirt and it wasn't from his marrow. He let the human, no Ebony cry, to cling even when he tried to pry her away to sit on the tailgate of his truck. She just wanted comfort just like, just like... a child, marrow, dust, so slowly to dust. She just wanted a comfort he couldn't give

He could hear sirens in the distance, blaring through the night and he silently thanked what ever neighbour had heard and called them. He wouldn't have been able to do it himself with his arms full. He wasn't too worried about the robbers though, after all he had infused some of his magic into their skin to warn monsters of the danger, and was completely trackable. He was worried about Ebony though and let himself fall into the temptation of checking her.

_LV 1 12/40 HP 3 DEF You're safe._

"Yes, you are quite safe." He murmured to her like he had done once before, a flash of red blinking behind his eyes. "Nothing will hurt you now."

It wasn't long before the emergency vehicles were pulling into the street and he was being swarmed by paramedics. He was honestly surprised that the police hadn't shot him down first instead of rushed into the house when he gestured towards it. Maybe monsters were becoming more liked after all.

Ebony was finally able to be pried from his arms and the crooks were carted off as moaning heaps. The police questioned him and Ebony and one of the neighbours who came over. He was sure he disturbed anyone who was listening to him when he explained what happened in detail and in such a deadpanned manner. He could just say the humans were lucky he didn't let his LV control his thoughts and disassemble them into dust. He had more control than what others gave him credit for.

"Edge?" He looked at the blanket-covered human and approached her when she called, eyes still blank of emotion. "I- thank you for coming."

"Nonsense human, I was just doing my job- pardon me, I was just doing what was... right." The human gave him a stiff smile, and he felt something surge in his magic at the action. The human was smiling at him, despite scaring her, snapping at her and being a terrible monster. She smiled at him, because he had helped her.

"Still, thank you Edge, I could have been dead right now if it wasn't for you." Before Papyrus could reply to her a paramedic came to them pushing a blue painted wheelchair. He didn't quite understand the need for it, Ebony had calmed down enough to walk her self and wasn't harmed and he didn't need one, so why?

He watched as Ebony's brow furrowed and then sighed waving him over. "Edge could you help me, I'm a bit too high up to lift myself into it." So it was for Ebony.

"Why do you need one?" Sure it was blunt and insensitive, but he didn't feel like beating around the bush after all that had just happened. He could only be present for so long and the police had already clocked in all that time.

"I can't walk." He lifted a brow at that. "No I physically can't walk, my legs are the equivalent to paralyzed... I didn't mention it because I feel safer when people don't know." She shifted her eyes away and picked at her blanket once again, her one hand rubbing at her leg.

Now Ebony finally made sense to him. The dotting brother, a security system, doors unlocked and sticking to one chair their entire stay. She couldn't walk and she kept it a secret from them so they wouldn't take advantage of her. She was a good lier and he had indefinably more respect for her because of it.

He stepped forward and lifted her down into the wheelchair, tucking the blanket around her legs as he did. 'Mother Mode fully activated' as Rus would have said. "I can stay with you until someone comes for you, it would be unsafe to stay here alone."

"Luckily you and your brother are replacing the doors in a day." Her smile turned teasing as she spoke, her eyes brightening with the words. "I bet it with be a real lockout."

Asgore, why did his brother's awful puns have to destroy this human and every other human they came in contact with. "We'll start early and get it all done tomorrow, no use in having you out of your house longer than needed."

The human stared at him in awe for some reason and let her smile practically split her face in half. Her eyes just a shade darker than usual as they sparkled. "Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay that cliff hanger wasn't long. Also this chapter was originally with the one previous but it was too long so I split it and that is why the one previous kinda sucks. Now the next chapter was supposed to be part of this, but again too long and I split it, now I just got to edit and it might be up by tomorrow.
> 
> Speaking of which I posted the first chapter of Old News which will revolve around Rus and Raz. I'm hoping to post the first chapter of Affairs which is about Stretch and Blue tonight as well, but it depends if I can finally be happy with it. Finally I have not started Daily Joke yet, but I'm hoping to work on that soon and we can see into the life of Papyrus and Sans.


	13. Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They came, they worked, they left.

Papyrus shut the door quietly behind him as he entered the house, kicking off his boots onto the mat sloppily and throwing his jacket onto one of the hooks. He dragged his sore feet into the kitchen, barely even flinching when he turned on the lights and his brother was relaxing at the table. 

“‘ey boss, ‘ere ya been?” Papyrus gave him a blank stare, running a thumb over his knuckles to ease the bruises under his gloves. 

“Work.” He replied bluntly and growled as a check rolled over him. 

Sans was on his feet in the next moment, eyes tiny as he sneered. “‘ere are ya ‘urt?” 

Of course, his brother wouldn’t be fooled. Even being the scaredy-cat he had always been, his brother had been perceptive even without checks and extremely angry whenever Papyrus would get hurt and didn’t tell him. It was the only time Papyrus ever saw his brother with any form of balls to speak of.

“off an’ sit.” Papyrus didn’t even argue, pulling off his shirt and slumping down into the chair Sans had previously occupied. He heard his brother hiss at the sight of the damage, and Papyrus had to wince when the most malevolent healing magic he’d ever felt being shoved into his bones. “‘at ‘ere ya ‘inking?! ‘is is a knife mark, a fuckin’ knife mark! And glass shards!” 

He let Sans rant, let him slosh his words together in the accent that he carried from the capital. His Ths and whs completely dropping from his words just like when they were little. Before Sans had gotten the shit kicked out of him when one of his bosses couldn’t understand him. Said he’d beat pronunciation into him if he had to. When he had dusted, Papyrus took over.

“are ya even lis’enin’ ta me? ‘at the ‘ell ‘appened?!”

Papyrus drew his eyes to his brother again, once again running his thumb over his bruised knuckles. “I was protecting Ebony, some men broke in and she called me.” Sans stared at him for half a minute, a sneer growing across his lips.

“an’ why the ‘ell didn’t ya call me!” Papyrus quieted down again as his brother lashed out at him. In the Underground, he would have backhanded Sans before the first words left his mouth. He would have yelled at him and left him to stew in his anger. Now he relished in the fact that his brother wasn’t afraid to do this, wasn’t afraid to be how he use to be. “papyrus!”

“Hmmm?” Sans was suddenly in front of him, tilting his jaw up to look him in the eyes.

“ya gained anou’er fuckin’ LV, an’ tried ta suppress it, ya damned idiot go ta sleep.” Papyrus slumped into the chair just a bit more, his brother’s hand keeping him up. The touch almost tender. “we ‘ave a lot of work ta do tamarrow.” 

()_()

Papyrus was sore. New LV always made his bones ache the next day like he had been lifting boulders the whole day before, which was basically the mental impact of the act. Didn’t help that he once again eased one of Sans’s dreams when he naturally woke up at five and heard his brothers restless shifting. This one was at least a bit more bearable then the last, but only slightly. 

So he dosed himself in two pots of coffee and went through a smoke pack before he even attempted to wake up his brother. It did little foe his nerves, even more so when Ebony was there to met them, alone. The police had sent Papyrus home despite his protests, claiming that they would wait with her till her brother showed up. They spoke as if Papyrus was at fault, and he sure as hell knew they wanted to talk to her without him around, like he was controlling what she said. 

Either way seeing the human waiting for them alone in her yard as she tried to pull branches away from the garage door, sent a shot of rage through him. She should be with her brother, where ever he was, and safe. Not here where she was already attacked once, in the open, where the day has barely started. He really had to assume she was stupid or her brother was horrible at his job. Though he supposed he knew very little about being a good brother, so he couldn’t say too much about her's. 

Papyrus ignored Sans’s full stare on Ebony’s wheelchair and marched up to the fussing human. Trying to reeling in his magic as his new level swirled within his marrow. 

“Ebony, what the hell do you think your doing here?” He made sure to punctuate every word, and place his intent within them as well. Yet the human just looked back at him with that innocent doe eyed look all humans tended to get when they were caught doing something they weren’t supposed to. “Your supposed to be with your brother.”

“Well he was here until about a half an hour ago when he went to work, besides he lives in an apartment on just about the top level and there’s no elevator, so we stayed up and cleaned up for the better part of the night.” Her eyes flashed away, but not quick enough for him not to catch the fear in her eye or the tremble in her hands. He had to wonder if that was because of him. 

He took a step back and cleared his throat. “Go inside human, your puzzle room preferably, the windows will be here within the hour and me and Sans would like to start removing your old ones.” Sans appeared beside him with a tool kit, still eyeing up Ebony’s wheelchair like it had offended him in some way. Maybe it had, Sans usually knew everything about everyone, and he likely didn’t know about this. 

When the human was in the house they got to work, windows being placed with the help of magic, doors and locks being installed, the last of the fence placed, and finally it came down to the stupid assed Box. 

“we figured out away ta stabilize it, but i couldn’t build one yet so we’ll ‘ave ta use ‘is one for now.” Red glanced up to where it would be placed and connected to the new security system.

How it was explained to Papyrus was that the box used a combination of magic and energy to power the security system and give it special features that others couldn’t, like being about to scan soul signatures or differentiate between animal human and monster. The problem was that raw magic and small amounts of energy didn’t go well together. Of course for the magic to be self sub-staining they had figured out a way to use small burst of energy to do so, which also made the magic unstable. However, it was fine once it was hooked up to a power grid and there was a constant source of energy and the internal battery was charged. There was a whole lot more complicatedness to it, but Papyrus hadn’t really cared that much so long as it did its job.

“Did you name it?” Sans snorted as he flicked some switches on the Box.

“classic said we should call it shocker five thousand, but I liked fellalot battery better.” Papyrus could see the tell tale signs of a smirk on his brothers face, but Sans held it back. He was trying, he was, even if that meant they we both faking it till they were making it. 

“How about neither.” Papyrus looked at the box for a moment and felt his own teeth curling. “What about just Fellverse Battery?” Another snort and his brother was scratching something into the metal. For half a second Papyrus worried that the stupid thing would blow up in both of their faces.

“nah, i like fellalot better, gives the ol’ box a real edge ta it.” Sans proclaimed as he revealed his handy work to Papyrus.

Papyrus sighed and climbed the ladder in return. Sans slowly passed up the box in his magic and Papyrus made quick work to hook it up to the system. It hummed beneath his hands when it was fully installed and he could feel his brother’s muted magic swirl within the circuits inside. A dull comparison to the roar it really was.

They found the human staring out the living room window and out into the back yard, still full of weeds and dying grass, when they came in. A sad sort of smile sat on her lips and her eyes full of painful memories.

“Ebony, we are finished and I’d like to speak to you about payment.” Papyrus voiced, as he watched the human's minimal reaction.

“Okay.” He voice was subdued, like she was drained of emotions. A stark comparison to what she had been this morning even last night where she had smiled at him despite what had happened. He didn’t like it much.

Papyrus shared a look with Sans and the shorter skeleton disappeared to clean up what ever tools they left laying around, while Papyrus pulled out the job folder and lead her into the kitchen where he could spread it out over the table. 

“Now it usually would be more, but I’m giving you a discount because of the attack.” Surprise filtered over her previously blank expression as he spoke. “Under our care the house should have never been broken into in the first place and multiple pieces of furniture had been ruined in the fight, as such you will be compensated for it with this discount.”

He handed her the paper for her to read over and she did so enthusiastically, her lips moving as she mouthed the words she read. “This is too much, not only is this basically robbing you of your service, but you dealt with the robbers too! It anything I should be giving you more for the service.”

Papyrus scanned the human, her eyes and hands, the way she worked he jaw like she had more to say. She wouldn’t be bugging from her stance even if it wasn’t her money she was bartering with.

“Your brother can pay this amount by any means as I have mentioned before, if there are any questions do not hesitate to call.” He glanced away from her, choosing to ignore everything she had just said and read over the paper on the table. “Sans will be back shortly to show you how to run the system and then you will be free to do as you please with your time.”

He ignored her kicked puppy look, the way she went to rebuke against everything he just said, the surprise that filtered across her face when he placed the little figurine down. 

“Our work would have been free of cost if we didn’t need to live off this business, so do not argue human.” He turned on his heel and walked out, the delicate butterfly figure staring holes in his back as the saying below it taunted him. 

_If you can’t walk, fly and be free of your burden._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The internet keeps eating this, so hopefully this time it posts. 
> 
> Next one should be up Sunday, maybe earlier if I procrastinate like I usually on all my work, but I should have the first chapter of Daily Joke up soon and the fixed version of Old News. Don't hold me to that though since I get side tracked a lot.


	14. My Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ebony is left to her thoughts

Ebony gripped her hand as it shook, the puzzle pieces previously in her hand clattering to the table loudly as she did.

The skeleton brothers had left yesterday, some how doing two days work in one and completely securing her home. Her brother had already paid them she knew, and that little statue was still crawling down her back like some unintentional sin.

The little figure was a puzzle her father had given her years ago when she had broken her leg. Told her in laughter that who ever was able to build it was as big as a puzzle fanatic as she was. She tried to build it, so many times, but the wings were delicate and tiny, the iridescent centre of the wings tripping her out. She could only ever get the base and maybe the body built before she had to give up and move onto something else.

Now it sat on the table in font her, wings outstretched and complete, delicate antennas extending.

Edge had built it, he had found it and for some reason built it. He had finished the one puzzle she couldn’t and it almost made her jealous of him. Almost, because it would be petty of her to think that no one but her could complete the puzzle. How her father made it sound, however, was that someone else was supposed to build it any way. She could almost remembering him frowning when ever he found her working on it.

That had been years ago, before everything hit the fan and she stopped caring, stopped walking, stopped expecting her brother to come visit unless he believed she needed something.

No she wasn’t jealous of Edge, she wasn’t, and that was perfectly good enough reason to invite his brother for coffee next week. She would have invited Edge, but she was still… coping with everything that had happened. She wouldn’t lie and say she wasn’t afraid of him, because come on. He broke a man’s leg and rendered another’s arms useless. Not to mention that one time she had spoked him while he was apparently believing he was dreaming.

Red had said they had a hard time of it in the Underground, that where they came from wasn’t as nice as where everyone else came from. Ebony drew her own conclusions from that, like how Red seemed to have been afraid of Edge at the beginning, or that Edge and Red both probably had PTSD from what ever life they both had led. Not to mention that both were a little ruff around the edges as it was.

A giggle escaped her at the unintentional pun, and was quite certain Edge had probably heard them all with a brother like Red. 

Her attention then turned again to her unsteady hand. There wasn’t much reason for it to shake besides frayed nerves and sudden strikes of fear. Things she would have to pin down to the attack. Things that wouldn’t happen again because of the new system. Red and Edge had made sure of that.

Her eyes flashed again to the butterfly, so carefree and peaceful. How on earth was she ever supposed to fly when she could barely leave her own home for groceries? How was she supposed to listen to any advice her father had unknowingly given her when the doctors keep throwing her in circles on her condition? When ever time she takes a step up she gets knocked back ten? When she’s constantly recovering from everything? When her brother is too ashamed to look at her? When he was the only person she had left? How was she to fly when she had already fallen and broken her wings, shattered on the ground like broken glass?

Maybe she was jealous of Edge. Of his strength and freedom, no that wasn’t quite right. Edge was caged by his own burdens, but he was still rising above them. Still moving forward. So she was jealous of the air he breathed and the ground he treaded. She wasn’t jealous of his puzzle skills, but everything else she was jealous of even just a little. So she feared him, she admired him, she envy him, she saw him as safe, and she was so confused by it all.

She barely spoke to him, and when she did he was curt and often rude, but those few times he was kind and gentle really hit her hard. He had saved her life, he had almost ended it. He was just one big ball of contrasts and it was making her head turn at every curve.

No she wasn’t going to think about him. They would likely never see each other again and she had coffee with Red. She was going to sit and do her puzzles and live the rest of her life peacefully. Maybe she couldn’t fly but she sure as hell could float and that's was just about the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya I did it on time, but it's kind short so I'll post the next one soon as make up. Also all the other books are up if you are curious, and I have decided the mustard can be real. Also if you want to check out a new Au I have one called tremortale started on my deviant art and Tumblr. (under the same name)


	15. Not Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reason why Edge is a bit salty with Undyne.

_Papyrus held his breath. They had all been lined up early that morning and the king had arrived. Just about everyone in the guard was here, except the few that had to patrol and make sure the rules were being followed. Only the really high end guards were here, something he could be proud to say he was. After all he had worked hard to get where he was, along with a few growth spirts, and now he was the tallest and one of the most reliable foot solider that the guard had._

_So when Gerson called Undyne forward from beside him he had been confused. Her father was smiling proudly from beside the old coot and everyone else was giving Undyne dark looks. Of course few actually like Undyne with her abrasive attitude, it was only by chance that they had become friends and her father hadn’t killed him when he had first said hi._

_“I am happy to tell you all that I’m retiring.” The shock was almost palpable in the air, no one believed Gerson would retire unless it included a pile of dust and a jar. This was a development that no one saw coming, except maybe Undyne who just grinned wider to his words. “I’d also like to be the one to inform you that Undyne will be taking my spot as Captain of the guard.”_

_Papyrus felt his vision tunnelling. Undyne, Captain? Sure she was strong and ruthless, she cared about the children, but that was only when she wasn’t beating on them or ogling lizards. There was also the fact that she lacked the self control to lead. There was a likely chance that she would dust half the guard by the end of the week. He could only say that if she even dared touched his unit she would be dust. No, she would be dust anyway, she took his fucking spot._

_“Everyone back to work! Double shifts! You whinny babies upset about that? Too bad, get used to it because it’s how it is from now on.” Papyrus tuned back in as Undyne yelled at them all, a predatory grin on her face as her father clapped a hand over her shoulder._

_Papyrus turned on his heal and made to stomp off, but found Gerson in his path. The only turtle had what Papyrus could only consider a smile over his weathered face. “Papyrus, come with me for a moment.” The turtle put an arm around Papyrus’s shoulders and steered him away. Papyrus took one glance back at Undyne and saw her father glaring at him._

_As Gerson lead him further into the tunnels, Papyrus’s guard grew with every step. Maybe Gerson had planned to kill him, or wanted to hold this over his head. He could see no other reason for them to be so isolated, he couldn’t see why he allowed himself to get dragged away in the first place. Anger had made him dull._

_Gerson suddenly pulled them to a stop and started to chuckle, setting his heavy hammer on the ground to lean on. A physical weapon. Monsters generally didn’t need them, but Gerson liked to carry one around ‘just in case’. Papyrus had to wonder if this was one of those ‘just in case’ moments. After all you couldn’t track a magic signature off a hammer._

_“Your too tense boy.” Papyrus continued to watch Gerson with a guarded gaze, not wanting to become dust. Gerson sighed and pulled something crimson from his shell. He held it out for Papyrus to take. When he didn’t move to take it Gerson’s smile became strained. “You were runner up for the position there was only one thing away from you and being captain so think of this as an apology for not being able to get you there.”_

_“I DON’T NEED AN APOLOGY.” Gerson sighed and dropped his arm slightly._

_“How about a reward for all your years of service, we usually don’t get ones like you who last so long.” Gerson held it forward again and again Papyrus refused to grab it. He didn’t need gifts or apologies, he wanted an answer._

_“WHY?”_

_The world seemed to land on Gerson with that one word, his shell cracking under the pressure. “Undyne’s father has been a friend of the king for many years, I had agreed that she would be a good candidate, but I felt she wasn’t ready, her father agued and threaten me and… the children…” Gerson looked wary as he pulled at the fabric in his hands. “I told the king, but he didn’t wish to believe an old turtle’s words anymore, and decided Undyne would be captain when her father suggested it, I could not argue otherwise unless I wanted to fight half of waterfall.”_

_“AND THE PEOPLE ALWAYS COME FIRST, EVEN THE VILLAINS.” Gerson nodded looking grim._

_“Yes, but I do believe I might have handed that task down to you.” Papyrus stared now, feeling shocks starting up his spine. “When I mention to the King that you would be more preferable as captain the King considered it, you were supposed to be given the new position of lieutenant, little to say it didn’t happen and now you’re a threat to Undyne’s position.”_

_“WHY TELL ME THIS.” Gerson grew more tired yet._

_“When you become captain, watch and see haw many stripes enter your ranks, how many die, how many make it this far and then die, watch as people are continuously slaughtered for the little reason of LV.” He drew in a sharp breath. “To see that changes any monster, but I saw something different in you boy, saw a change, someone with so little dust on his hands and yet the biggest amount of arrests, I saw someone who could maybe keep the Underground safe from it’s self and I don’t think we can afford to lose that yet.”_

_Papyrus drank his words in, taking a note of a few as his eyes landed on the crimson cloth once again. Finally he reached forward and took it from the turtle. “THEN LET THIS NOT BE A GIFT FROM YOU, BUT A PROMISE SIR.” He wrapped it around his neck a few times and tightened it into place. “THAT LIKE THIS SCARF PROTECTS ME, THAT I WILL LIVE, AND ONLY LIVE TO PROTECT THOSE WHO NEED PROTECTION.”_

_“Aye, that’s what I like to hear, now hurry home and make sure everyone is safe.”_

_Papyrus did as he was told, more for a final respect to his old captain than anything, but he did it. Besides he had planing to do, a brother to pick up off a floor, and a Snowdin to protect, he couldn’t afford to dally when so many things were on the line._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next one will be edge again, promise.


	16. Untitled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The embassy, and a plan

Papyrus glared at the wall of the Embassy in hatred, his hands clenching over his humerus. He was certain his brother found this humorous.

Once the Embassy had learned of the attack, they had dragged him in for questioning and to make sure the delicate human-monster relationship they were creating wouldn’t be ruined. Even if it was, all the work Rus was currently doing would just fix it.

Speaking of Rus, he would probably be mad at him for causing his brother to return for the time being. He would sadly have to face the big city all on his lonesome, what a shame.

“EDGE!” Blue chirped as he approached him in his suit and arms full of papers. His smile just as bright as always and eye lights just the same. Something must have gone well if he was this happy. “GOOD NEWS! YOU’RE COMPLETELY OFF THE HOOK BECAUSE YOU ACTUALLY INCREASED THE RELATION BETWEEN US AND THE HUMANS!”

Papyrus slumped into his seat, only by a fraction, but still slumping none the less. Even if he knew he was in the right, humans had a weird way of throwing it back into your face and he was mostly worried that this would be his last strike. How many did he have already. Must have been a few since when they first arrived must have given him ten at the least. Now all anyone ever told him was how he was so close to ruining everything they were working towards. A few more mess ups and they would all be dust.

What a thing to place on someone’s shoulders.

“IT’S WONDERFUL! THE HUMANS ARE COMPLETELY REEVALUATING THEIR OPINION OF MONSTERS, AND THIS IS COMPLETELY BLOWING UP THE NEWS! THEY EVEN WANT TO INTERVIEW YOU!” Blue blabbered on, sorting through the papers in his arms. It was already obvious to Papyrus what he was looking for.

“No.” The disappointment was almost palpable, even without the way Blue wilted at his words. Some how Papyrus just knew this would bite him in the ass later. Be through Blue’s disappointment or Pap’s, he would be facing the rear end of something ugly. “An interview would just be counter-intuitive, they would run at the site of my face.”

Blue blinked at him a moment before falling off into laughter, eyes sparkling as blue stars formed in his eyes. “SAYS THE SKELETON WHO HAS CAPTURED THE HEART OF EVERY WOMAN IN THE EMBASSY AND ANY WHERE ELSE HE TRENDS!” Blue set the paper pile in the chair beside him and handed him the one he had been looking for. “IT’S UP TO YOU IF YOU DO IT EDGE, BUT PLEASE CONSIDER IT, IT COULD REALLY BENEFIT MONSTERS!”

Blue picked up his pile again, surly wrinkling his pressed suit at how close he was holding them to his chest. Eyes just as bright as his shirt. “I will.”

“PERFECT! I WILL SEE YOU NEXT GET TOGETHER EDGE.” Blue quickly disappeared, leaving him alone with a form that he entirely didn’t want.

He stared at the form for a moment, scanning the info before crumpling it and tossing it into the waste basket across the room. He then dragged himself to his feet like the world wanted to keep him in his chair. For him to sit their till he dusted and all that was left was a bright red promise that was cut all too short for his liking.

()_()

_Red, red, and grey. Crying, and screams. Gentle footsteps._

Papyrus pressed the butt of his cigarette into the ashtray, and leaving it there to party with the rest of it’s friends. His other hand tapping out a rhythm on the ledge in front of him. Smoke curled around him in dancing with the air, the smell hanging off him like a curtain.

“boss-“

“Don’t.” The word came out garbled and layered in smoke, a hard ground on his already gravelled voice. Sans came up beside him, lighting a smoke of his own, smoke curling to join Papyrus’s high in the air.

_Red. Grey. Whispers. Whimpers. His own voice._

His lite another of his own, holding the smoke in long enough to fell the burn of it coming out of his sockets and ribs. Smoke blooming out of him like he had a fire burning up his soul. Maybe he did, it sure in the hell burned right about now.

“so i got ‘at coffee date with tha human tomorrow and i can’t make it.” Sans blew out a puff of smoke, coloured with his magic as it made lazy rings in the air. “could you go?”

“Whatever.” He focused his eyes on the little dot on the tree in the yard, where his brother had drunkenly started a craving and passed out before he could really get started.

_Dust clinging to his shirt, to his boot. Light grey. Untainted. Young._

“be ‘ere at ten.” Then his brother was gone between displaced air particles.

Papyrus sighed and pushed the half burnt end of his smoke into the ashtray, not entirely feeling like smoking any more. Not feeling like a whole lot right now. Just today, just for today he would rest and then tomorrow he would work on the books and answer calls and figure out their next job… and met up with the human, because his brother was surly off with the bone bag on yet another one of their exploits. 

He was just so tired today. He felt filthy. He needed a shower, and then sleep.

He proceeded too lite another cigarette and place it between his teeth, another hand grasping at his scarf weakly.

_A crimson scarf. Red. Grey. Silence. A crimson scarf full of dust._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Another day, another chapter.
> 
> Just to let you know I'm on my sixes page for Tremortale if you want to check it out. It's on my tumbler and deviant art just look. up amberasters or Tremortale and it should come up.


	17. Coffee and tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge goes for coffee with the human

Papyrus waited at the door quietly for Ebony. When Sans had told him that their little get together was at Ebony’s house, he was a bit surprised. Usually humans wanted to got to a cafè or coffee house, but Ebony wanted to be in her own house. Familiar territory he had to guess.

The door swung open, a jangle of bells accompanying it and a sharp intake of breath. Papyrus looked down at Ebony with barely enough light in his sockets to show his eyes. He was tired and really didn’t need a scared human on top of that.

“Oh, umm, hi Edge, what are you doing here?” Her eyes shifted to him and then the ground, the door and back again. Focus anywhere but where it needed to be.

“My brother couldn’t make it, so he decided to send me in his stead.” Papyrus glanced above her head, which really wasn’t that hard to do, and glanced at the long hall where a thin box sat. Probably a new coffee table or shelf.

“I… Why don’t you come in? I’ll make us something to drink.” She backed up, and turned fluidly with a twist of her wrists and weight. She was well practiced with her wheelchair frightfully so.

“Tea for me.” She nodded sharply before wheeling away in a blur, his own eyes landing on the box, crudely packaged and leaning against the wall. He passed it by and into the living room. There was a box full of books and another of knick knacks, the coffee table and bookshelf removed. Something he barely remembered having been removed before the last day of the job.

That there had been where the one human laid the other over there. The blade had landed over there and his marrow there and over there. Ebony hidden there.

His eyes raked one last time over the room before he entered the kitchen, Ebony working with a kettle on the stove.

“You know I owe you so much, for cleaning, for um… startling you, for saving me, and I can’t help but feel I haven’t done much as a thank you.” She prattled as she pulled some cups from a lower cupboard and placed them on the counter. “So I guess, what I’m trying to say is if you need anything just ask and I’ll see what I can do.”

“No need human, you owe me nothing.” She glanced over at him and then something seemed to strike her as she wheeled away from the cupboard and to the table where she pulled out a chair for him.

“Sit, please.” There was something in her voice that was almost begging, something in her eyes that was almost like the end of the world. So he sat and took the cup she gave him. Earl Grey a standard tea, and from the taste of it, a good brand as well.

“I’ll apologize on my brother’s behalf, him and… Sans tend to get random ideas and go off on them without caring of what others think.” He levelled a look at Ebony, her body much more relaxed now that they both were seated and he was a lot less taller than her. “I’ll also apologize for wrecking your book shelf and coffee table.”

Her eyes grew wide at that and her hands were soon waving through the air. “No way, don’t apologize, neither were avoidable, and your brother cancelling is fine, you being here instead is fine, I just wanted some company.” He nodded along like this was some kind of sagely advice, not feeling all that argumentative today.

“Yes and my brother’s and his horrendous puns are horrible company anyway.”She sipped his tea and watched as the human snickered.

“What? They don’t fit your high standards?” He was sure he looked scandalized right there, as she turned to giggles, tension rolling out of her shoulder’s in waves. Her body now relaxing.

“Hardly, they don’t even have a place in his own standards he just thinks the irritate me.” Another sip and this time he saw the plain curiosity on her face.

“And do they?”

Papyrus paused at that and then huffed on a breath, very close to a laugh. “Sometimes, most of the time they're just down right infuriating.” He flippantly remarked as he brought his tea to his teeth once again. The human blinked at him before falling into giggles.

Her mirth was amusing to him, almost contagious and he had to wonder if this is why Sans liked to make anybody laugh, why anyone liked to make anybody else laugh.

“Can I ask you something?” She whisked out between her dying giggles. He almost rebuked that back at her, but decided to go for a different approach.

“Only if you let me ask you one in return.” He placed his cup down and interlaced his hands to rest his chin on, giving the human his full attention.

“Fair enough.” She shifted and then placed her own cup down. “Why did you come that day.”

He almost asked why she called, but didn’t want to waste his question and instead answered truthfully. “I made a promise once, to protect people, and I was not going to start now in breaking it.” He sipped at his tea and gave her a cool look. “Aside from that you were clearly afraid and I wasn’t going to allow who ever did that to go unpunished.”

She considered and then added, “Red said you were a Captain where you were from, so you just have a strong sense of justice then.” She nodded as if that confirmed a few things for her and then gave her full attention to him in return.

“How did you lose your legs?” Her eyes quickly dodged from him and past him, her hand clenching repeatedly on the table.

“There was a car accident, and they're not really lost, just misplaced, doctors keep telling me they might be able to fix them.” Her eyes came back to his, pain in her eyes and words left to sit on her tongue.

“And the bikes?” She shot him a smug look for the second question, but answered anyway.

“A stupid stunt really, completely different situation.” She poured some more tea for herself and dumped enough sugar in to make Papyrus’s teeth ache. “Way before the accident and not even relevant at this point, just really nice to have the memory around.”

Papyrus had to throw away multiple different theories about that one, even more so if it wasn’t related to Ebony’s legs. Then again it must have been more relevant then she put out if how she dodged over it said anything about it.

“You know, monsters are proficient in healing, maybe they would be able to repair your legs.” She looked hopeful for about half a second and then her expression fell. Something He noticed that she did a lot.

“That is if they are finally allowed to open that medical practice they wanted to. The government is still holding back on that.” Papyrus had remembered hearing something like that from Blue or Papyrus maybe Rus or Raz and in turn nodded in slight understanding.

“Yes, maybe soon then, I’ll make sure to put a word in with the Queen when the time does come.”

“No! You don’t get to help me anymore!” She pointed a finger at him, complete annoyance covering her face. “You have done enough, if anything I’ll ask Red to do it so I don’t owe you anymore!”

Papyrus felt his teeth curling in amusement, Ebony’s maze like personality reminding him so much of _them_ it was uncanny. The ability to flip emotions like pancakes and then either burn them or undercook them in the most unlikely ways.

Maybe he could put up with this human. She defiantly made things interesting. Well as interesting as a world of flesh bags who thought surviving bare assed naked in the most dangerous places on the planet was fun… so very.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I go Mia for a few weeks I am alive just busy, but I'll probably procrastinate just to work on this so I might not disappear.


	18. Reminders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge is stewing again and like always red is there.

It was raining. Something Papyrus had by now seen plenty of over the years. Even in the Underground he had experienced enough of it between Waterfall and the warm drafts Snowdin once in awhile had. Then again that barely compared to what the surface sometimes got. Ranging from a small out drizzle to a full out wind storm with the works of lightening and thunder. 

Many monsters were afraid of it, afraid of the sky caving in on them and killing them. This caused Toriel and many other monsters to try and comfort those who were afraid of it. Something Papyrus did not want any apart of. He wasn’t a comfort anyway, he just scared others with sharp teeth and claws. That was something he never thought he would be regretting in life.

Sans was still gone, possibly comatose on mustard, and likely wouldn’t be back until what ever time he saw fit. Which might be never, if it ever was an option. Papyrus himself was working through their finances while also sorting out the list of jobs he had been phoned about. He would have to start thinking of hiring people if the work load grew any larger, now that Sans had figure out that stupid magic energy ratio for the Fellalot Battery. (As Sans insisted they call it.)

Papyrus heaved a sigh, the need for a smoke circling his thoughts in a hazy cloud. The staticky sound of silence flowing past his head, and his bones ached in the need for use. Never in his life had he thought he would be sitting at home doing desk work all day. That checking traps and busting heads wasn’t his daily routine. When children weren’t hiding beside the house because it was the safest place for them in the Underground. Where the Underground fell deeper into destruction after Undyne and he was stilling picking up the pieces. Where he was completely useless. 

He shook his head at the thought, schooling his expression and glaring into the wall. He was the great and terrible Papyrus, Captain of the Royal Guard, right hand to the King… except he wasn’t, not any more.

Sans popped into the room behind him, a quick glance showing him water logged and full of mud. At the moment Papyrus didn’t even care enough to yell at him about it either.

“hey bro, how’d tha date go?” Sans questioned, slinking over and looking over his shoulder at the numbers. Which to Papyrus weren’t looking good enough.

“It wasn’t a date, and Ebony continues to say she owes me.” Papyrus noted as he wrote a quick note down about finding better suppliers for some materials. “I told her she could go to Paps puzzle club this week to fill one out.”

“oh, right, ya goin’ ta ‘at? bean pole was wondering and i keep forgetting about it.” Red questioned as he leaned heavily on the back of his chair. 

A day with Blue, Raz, and Papyrus along with whoever else decided to actually come, to build harmless puzzles and eat cookies. He didn’t like going often, but he had promised Papyrus and the human was going. Maybe this once he would go, if not just to show them how to properly plan a puzzle.

“Yes, I have nothing better to do until one of these jobs makes up their mind on when we can come in to work.” Papyrus hated that part of the job. They could come in any time so long as it wasn’t more than two jobs at a time, but most clients couldn’t have them in whenever and they put up with it because they couldn’t afford not too.

“well until ‘at ‘appens i’ll be workin’ in tha lab.” Sans grumbled as he picked up a bag off the couch he had left there this morning. It smelt much to rancid for Papyrus to want to go anywhere near it.

“Yes and you get so much actual work done.” Papyrus couldn’t help but to roll his eyes and glare down at the offending papers before him. Somethings just weren’t adding up.”

“‘hat’s ‘at supposed ta mean?” Sans voice was clipped, a challenge and a defence all rapped up with a pretty shark sneered bow.

Papyrus scoffed, his tone disbelieving, “I can smell the whisky on your breath Sans, your not fooling me.”

“like ya get any work done either, ya sit in tha house all day an’ mope.” Sans hit hard, something he hadn’t done in years, since they were on better terms. Though that fond memory didn’t make it sting any less, and sting it did. Really what has Papyrus done since he got here besides snarl, jeer, and smoke? He’s been a jerk, a lazy jerk, who’s lost his purpose in life.

Before the silence could draw on too long, or for Papyrus to reply, Sans’s phone went off and with a quick glance he was gone. Didn’t bother to note his leave, instead allowing for the static of displaced air and space covering for him. 

Papyrus felt a growl tear through his throat. He wasn’t mad at Sans or his words, just at how true they were. He didn’t deserve the tittle of captain if he acted like this when nothing was going on, because really isn’t that what he always wanted. No death, less fear, to be able to wake up in the morning and not worry about a gang war on his front porch. 

He hated how useless he was now that his world was taken from him. He should be out there saving lives and helping, not installing security systems. There was someone else for that, and yet… he didn’t think he’d be able to let it go. Him and Sans had worked to build this for themselves, they worked together, something they haven’t done since the dog accident. He couldn’t throw that away, but maybe he could start doing more even if it was just a little.

He gripped at his scarf, rubbing his thumb across the worn threads and the few impossible stains. For some it had been a sign of nightmares, for others one of hope. For him it was a reminder that there were things he needed to still do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorrryyyy, I meant to finish this earlier, but I've been procrastinating school and had to get a bunch finished for this weekend. I should most defiantly have the next one up next Sunday, because if I don't get time to write I have a flashback chapter up and ready to post.


	19. Trap

Papyrus waited patiently with limbs crossed as he watched as Blue and Paps catered to others. Both of them trying to feed the humans everything in the house, while also feeding them more information about puzzles than they probably could handle at once. Raz was over at the table with a set of tiny screw drivers and bits of metal and wood he was carefully piecing together into a puzzle. All in all he was board, and has been for the past hour since he showed up with his tray of scuffles.

He had planed to draw some blueprints out for a trap, but ended up letting Papyrus use the materials to draw out a tricky puzzle to show the humans. It was little to say that the humans were miffed every time the club took place. Blue was all too happy to help, while Raz ignored them both.

That was what Papyrus decided to focus on until the human decided to show. Raz had been acting quite distant all night, he didn’t even bring a food tray and had Rus drop him off through a short cut. None of which he did on any day. Papyrus slowly pegged it down to one of his bad weeks as he noted the bags and fuzzy eye lights, the bandages he hid expertly under his gloves. Something Papyrus was all too familiar with.

Papyrus made his way to push himself to his feet and offer Raz a smoke, but a knock on the door and an excited Blue cut him off both literally and figuratively. The door opened with bang and an excited, “WELCOME!” A squeak coming as a reply. 

“YOU MUST BE EDGE’S FRIEND, PLEASE COME IN!” Blue backed up out of the way and Ebony carted herself in. Papyrus briefly wondered how she got up the stairs, having told her to call him when she arrived so he could help her. She had a box in her lap as she smiled and offered Blue a hand, and an introduction.

Papyrus walked over, subtly stepping in beside Ebony and trying for a smile. “Blue I do believe your pie is burning.” He watched as confusion flipped to horror on Blue’s skull before he was racing into his kitchen with a startled yelp. “I do apologize for his… energy, he can be more… calm.”

Ebony just smiled at him. “That’s fine, my… I use to know someone with even more energy than that.” She held up the puzzle box in her hands and gestured to the room. “So do we just do our own thing or is there a group puzzle that everyone works on?” Her could guess at her confusion, because a glance would only tell you that there were blueprints and building being done up.

“You may choose, Paps-Papyrus doesn’t care much what anyone does in this time so long as they're enjoying themselves, there will be group puzzles latter, however.” He glanced back at said skeleton who was too distracted by his blueprints to even realize what else was going on around him. “Would you like to work on that, or would you like to join the discussion?”

Ebony looked over at the small group at the couches and then Raz at the table. Her eyes settling on him once again. “Well, is there any where I can work on this?” Papyrus looked down at the puzzle box, took note of the size in his head and gave a curt nod. He gestured the human off to the lone couch and pulled out one of the puzzle tables Blue kept behind the couch for such an occasion.

The human had moved to the couch without his notice, with a lifted brow he set the table beside her. He glanced over his shoulder at a frantic Blue in the kitchen and then the snack table Papyrus had set up. “Would you like anything?”

Her eyes followed his line of vision and her eyes began to sparkle at the site of the food. “Someone made scuffles?!” Her voice cracked with excitement, and Papyrus almost, almost laughed at the sound.

“Yes.” He didn’t even ask if she wanted any, just retrieved her a plate and handed it over, her eyes shining. Papyrus felt his breath stick in his throat and a smile tugging at his teeth. Curse this human.

“You may be the best person in the world.” She then glanced at him and then over the room. “What were you working on until I got here?”

“Nothing really.” Her brows furrowed and then she looked away. Papyrus waited a moment then two as he watched her face colour red.

“You can help me if you like… I don’t think I’ll get it finished by the end otherwise.” He considered and sat down beside her. He didn’t come here to do nothing after all.

They pulled out the pieces and sorted them before begging. Time ticking by as they worked in silence, and the puzzle slowly filled itself in.

“So who is everyone?” She inquired when there were only a handful of pieces left.

“Hmm…” Papyrus glanced up at the room. “The one a the table is Raz, he works at the Embassy with his brother Rus, Blue is the one in… well blue he also works at the Embassy, you might have heard of him or his brother Stretch.”

“The one dating that actor?” Papyrus felt his eyebrow twitch.

“Yes, the last one is Papyrus, he’s the head of the diplomats, you might have seen his brother Sans around town, stars knows how many jobs he has, as for the humans… I haven’t yet been properly introduced.” Papyrus couldn’t say he didn’t know their names or they haven’t talked, but he didn’t know them and he hasn’t been properly introduced yet.

“Okay and what’s Raz doing?” Papyrus focus back to the puzzle.

“He’s building Chinese puzzle boxes, I don’t suggest trying one through, they have nasty surprises.” One of which surprises had almost costed him a finger. “The others are working on puzzles for a video game, it’s amazing how little humans know about the art of puzzles and traps.”

Her head cocked sideways in the corner of his eyes, her fingers pressing the last piece of the puzzle in place and her hands landed in her lap. “Are puzzles important to monsters?” Her eyes caught his again, curiosity the only thing he saw.

“Very, they make up most of the open space between towns, monsters will also gift puzzles to others and it’s an essential part of our culture.” Papyrus recited, something he had learned to say and not slip up on. His world held puzzles with just as much meaning, but weren’t used for their proper intentions much anymore. Sans’s collar did hold a puzzle in its clasp though and if monsters were serious enough they would still gift puzzles to one another, but that was very few and far in between. 

“I think I would of liked the Underground.” It was whispered, but he heard it and the scowl that twisted his face so suddenly showed in her face.

“It’s a prison, a horrible prison in which I would do anything to make sure the inhabitants were safe.” He glared for a moment more and then reeled himself back, sighing and looking away. “Puzzles or not, no one should ever like the Underground.” And yet Papyrus knew of someone who liked it so much they were constantly trying to stay, even when he tried to get them to leave.

“Okay…” She looked around and Paps suddenly jumped up and clapped his hands.

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE, IT’S GROUP PUZZLE TIME.” Papyrus felt himself sigh and was so glad it wouldn’t be another episode of twister. He was also glad he could escape this conversation before he could make it worse.


	20. Trash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another memory.

_Since Undyne became Captain work had become long hours of meaninglessness. Monsters were being forced into the guard, into sentry positions, and more monsters dusted daily. No one was ever where they needed to be and Undyne was rarely found._

_The only bright side to the whole thing was that Sans had been forced into the Sentry. It was claimed he was a burden to society despite working four jobs as it was and being the main consumer of mustard and alcohol in the Underground. Now he worked five jobs, comes home drunk, sleeps, and more times then not threw up what ever Papyrus gave him to eat… which he supposed wasn’t really a bright side._

_Everything was starting to get on his nerves with everyday having the possibility of an attack on either him of Sans. Even more when Sans worked in all the most likely areas for an attack. He was easy bait and weak beyond belief. It was a constant stress on Papyrus. That and how Undyne was flaunting her position in his face by giving him every shift possible. The only thing really keeping him functioning was dirt brand coffee and the fact he was still young enough to be in strips and that gave him a bit of energy._

_So it wasn’t really much of a surprise when he snapped. When his brother stared back at him with wide drunken eyes and a hand to his cheek. He hadn’t lost any HP, there wasn’t enough intent for that, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt. Papyrus was almost horrified that he felt better, that it had felt good in a morbid sort of way. His LV stirring greedily under his bones, begging him for more. He soon felt disgust settle in his bones and left the house quickly hopping his brother would forget by the time he became sober enough to remember._

_It wasn’t long after that, that he had snapped at his his brother in public, grabbing him by the scruff of his jacket and pushing him into the snow as he yelled. Many widened their path from the spectacle, and many started to avoid him. It was later that he heard from some gossiping rabbits on why._

_“Those two used to love each other.”_

_“If he’s cruel enough to hurt his own brother what would he do to us?”_

_“What would he do if_ we _hurt Sans.”_

_So people feared him, feared what he did. That would be better than them thinking he was some pushover that could be messed with._

_It had been another year before anything really happened. A year of times getting harder, of people turning crueler, of more dust and less food. A year for his brother to start to fear him. It was a year before anyone had actually decided to attack him. Why with him publicly challenging Undyne to her position of captain, he was fully expecting it. What he hadn’t expect was how it all went down._

_They had been just children. Waiting for him on the path when he went to check on Sans at his post. They might have been a few years younger than him, all looking and running up to him in a babble of words and worry. He supposed the amount of dust in the air would have made anyone worry._

_When they told him one of their friends were dusted, he had clenched his scarf just a bit tighter. He could have saved them if he had been a couple minutes earlier, could have stopped the EXP hunters and saved a child. He could have done what he promised and he hadn’t._

_He told the children that he would find the culprit, and they had walked past him back towards town and then the one in the back jumped him. He had always had a soft spot for children, most knew it just from the way he would sneak some of the town kids coins. It was a weakness, his weakness, and that weakness only created more._

_Marrow splattered the ground red as he staggered forward and flung the teen at some tree. His magic flaring as monsters came out of the trees and the youngest of monsters ran away._

_Bone jutted out of the ground as a protective barrier while he tried to open his eye, but the sharp sting of pain and the feeling of marrow in his socket forced him to close it. He counted the monsters and briefly felt that there had been more, briefly remembering Undyne’s father and a few molluscs. He cursed silently, remembering his brother’s probably sleeping self and quickly sending a cascade of bones at any would be attackers._

_They were scarily easy to handle, being able to be turned blue easily. Some dusting as he hit them others hanging on with barely a full HP. He raced off towards his brother, prying his eye open on the way. There had just been a tiny scratch on the top, but it had caught the inside of his socket and would likely hurt for a few days, but it would be manageable._

_He felt the hum of magic before he saw it. Bones and spears littering the ground with a wide range of other types of bullets along with the tall tail sign of marrow in the snow._

_Papyrus took the first monster down easily, but it caught the attention of all the others and suddenly they were ignoring his brother who was just lying in the snow and attacking him. Dust began to coat the air heavily with each blow he gave, his goal being his brother who was spilling marrow all over the snow._

_Of course the closer he got the more tired he became and the harder it got. He was taking more hits than he would care to admit and his worry grew stronger every minute._

_His eyes caught sight of Undyne’s father and he felt his newly gained LV stirring as he drew closer to Sans, as he raised a spear. Suddenly all there was, was red. A hum of magic buzzing through the air as screams got choked out by dust and a check rolled off Papyrus’s bones._

_He panted as the light began to fade and he approached his brother, looking down at him and the spider web of a fracture branching off his eye socket. Red pouring slowly from the wound._

_Papyrus delivered a sharp kick to his brother’s side, rousing the skeleton awake with a gasp as he rolled. “GET UP.” Papyrus spat and then headed back the way he came. He heard Sans stagger quickly behind him, Papyrus taking the time to whip the marrow from his face._

_It wasn’t long before they reached the first massacre and He took the time to tie up the survivors and drag them to town for judging. His anger boiling slowly in his bones._

_“bro-“_

_“SHUT UP YOU USELESS SCAP OF MAGIC!” He felt his magic spark in his eyes enough to burn red, enough for the the guard he passed to look away and citizens to cower. Right in the middle of town he dropped his victims and rounded on Sans. “YOU CAN’T EVEN DEFENDING YOURSELF YOUR SO USELESS! I ALWAYS HAVE TO SAVE YOUR HIDE AND QUITE FRANKLY I’M SICK OF IT! CAN YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT OR ARE YOU JUST PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE OF IT?!”_

_“bro-“_

_“NO, YOU DON’T GET TO BRO ME SANS YOU HAVE LOST YOUR PRIVILEGES OF THAT AS SOON AS YOU BECAME THE GARBAGE THAT YOU ARE! AND FOR FUCKING ONCE DO YOUR FUCKING JOB AND DEAL WITH THESE IDIOTS!”_

_He watched the flicker of fear in his brother’s eyes, the flicker in everyone else’s. They feared him, and the would continue to fear him because one day soon he would be captain of the guard and he’ll be damned if he didn’t keep his promise. Even if that meant everyone had to fear him in order to do so._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda had a bad week and probably will continue to have a bad week so I decided I'm going to post a chapter toady and one on Sunday to feel a sense of accomplishment. If anyone here follows my Tremotale comic I'm just going to say it might be late because god only knows when I'll gain the motivation to work on it. I totally blame English class.


	21. Boxed

_I think something’s wrong with the system._

_Why?_

_It’s buzzing._

Papyrus stared at his phone for a moment blinking blankly at the message sprawled across the screen. The words were clear enough to him, but something just wasn’t linking up in his mind. It could of been the fact that the system would of notified him if something was wrong with it, a feature that Sans thought they needed. (Of course he made sure that was all they could do so that his brother didn’t come up with any nefarious pranks.) That or it could be the fact that Ebony was the one saying it, the system that they had just installed and Sans was too busy working on future boxes to take a look at it.

Papyrus could manage it himself if he had to so long as it was a simple repair. He didn’t have to worry abut any explosions or shocks of any kind and he knew his way around it well enough. However, he wasn’t so great if it got to the bare bones of the contraption that he still refused to use the name of. If it came to that point he would have to call Sans or one of the other science designated skeletons. Something he really wouldn’t be happy doing.

If anything he would probably would be invited in for tea after.

0_0

As the diagnostics rang he tried to listen for the buzzing the human spoke of, but couldn’t hear anything beyond the urban city life and some birds. Maybe the problem was inside the house? The scanner in his hand binged and he glanced over the system for any errors, finding none. Even the interior system claimed to have no errors.

He unplugged the system and headed towards the house. A firm knock on the back door had the human opening it.

“Edge!” The human smiled and pulled the door the rest of the way open and carting backwards to allowing him in. “Hows is it?”

He stepped inside and gave Ebony a side glance as he looked over the scanner again. “Perfectly fine, are you sure it was your system that was buzzing?”

Ebony lead him to the kitchen where she began to make tea. As they passed through the living room he silently noted the new shelf but no new coffee table. He sat at the table watching the human putter around before they each had a coffee in their hands.

“I thought I was sure, the trackpad that came with it also gave some kinda confusing alert.” She handed over said item and he scrolled through the alerts on the system glad they made it so that different alerts fell into different folders.

“I see your problem.” He tapped a few shortcuts and opened up an application before handing it over. “My brother likes wording everything so it's impossibly complicated, in here is a shorter more understandable version of the alert, in short it was overheating and the fun turned on, the alert was to make sure you wouldn’t freak out.”

“Heh, I guess that failed.” Papyrus hummed his silent agreement taking a sip of his tea as he shifted. The back portion of his ribs rubbing against the chair awkwardly and he shifted his shoulder a bit in response. The knife wound was mostly gone, a faded grey mark on his bones now, but it and a few other of his deeper scars tended to dislike certain friction. “You alright?”

“Ghost pains.” He mumbled and drank more of his tea, stopping his shifting. He was just glad his eye wasn’t acting up, it was bad enough he couldn’t see out of the blasted thing much less have it ache enough to make his entire vision black.

Ebony glanced at his eye as if she could sense his thoughts and she quickly looked away rubbing at her thighs. “I take it you got hurt a lot as captain?”

At first he wondered what kinda question that was, of course was hurt, but then he realized it was a tactic. She was trying to get him to talk about the eye she was still focusing on with out directly asking. He might humour her slightly.

“Yes.” That didn’t mean he would tell her what she wanted to know. “Nothing I can’t handle, besides a few broken bones that were a nuisances during cases.” He watched as a shiver ran through her and she clutched at her pant legs. He cursed his slight carelessness and tried to advert the topic. “However, my brother is quite the healer, so there wasn’t much I had to worry about.”

“Healer, like a doctor?” Oh that certainly caught her attention, he could see the curiosity burning through her eyes.

“he is hardly a doctor, no doctor would use such harsh healing or have as horrible bedside manners as my brother, he just patched me up well enough so that I could do what I had to.” He sipped at his tea as he watched the human fill with more questions until she shook her head and looked away.

Sans was an idiot and he was a bigger one back then, but after… after he had become captain and their relation was better for a time he wasn’t a horrible brother and they made sure they helped each other no matter what. For a time, never forever.

“My brother owns a law firm its why he can afford so much, and yet he lives in the worst apartment he could possibly find.” She shook her head again and glanced out the window and towards the street. “He’s a good brother despite everything thats happened to him, and leaving behind a big mess whenever he comes to visit.” She smiled almost sadly. “I just wish I could see him more.”

Papyrus watched Ebony for a moment in silence, hair shining, green eyes flashing gold. He couldn’t look away even when she turned and caught him staring. The red that began to coat her skin was such a nice shade of red.

“Hey Edge?” He hummed as he finally looked away to finish his tea. “Would you like to go with me to a cafe with me this weekend? I been meaning to try their pretzels, but I haven’t had anyone to go with.”

He considered for a moment and then realized his weekend was clear and there really wasn’t any harm in going… “I would very much like that.” Even if it turned out to be a bust that grin was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****Alright, since I won't be able to probably work on this for the next two weeks and I got into a bit of a writing spree before this, I'll be posting once a day till Thursday and then I probably won't update again till 24 again.*****


	22. Solitary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More tea and some thinking.

Papyrus wasn’t entirely sure if he should have been surprised or not that the cafe the human mentioned was Muffet’s. He had been told that Muffet was the leader in Monster owned business and was the first to have her cafe open. It became quickly popular with the populace shortly after and the spider monster was finally making a proper income. The success of her business didn’t stop her from helping other monster start theirs, Papyrus even had to go through her in order to get Caged Out Security running and he would have to admit that he would of never got it running without her help. 

Once in a while he would stop in often for coffee usually because Stretched and Rus enjoyed coming here to get what ever treats the desired drenched in what ever cloyingly sweet substance they desired for an outrageous price. Muffet only did it because they pained that outrageous price after having it in a tab for much too long or making him pay.

He had to say it was amusing when Muffet was surprised when he said he was waiting for someone that wasn’t a skeleton, and when Ebony came in smiling and possibly squealed(?) at the site of Muffet. He was’t entirely sure what that noise would have been defined as. Then she went off about tarantulas with Muffet leaving him in the state of ‘what the hell just happened?”.

“Fuhuhuhu, you must met my cousin dearie, his little helpers are simply adorable.”

“All spiders are adorable, except those ones that are bigger than a beach ball.” Both woman gave shutters at the thought, despite Muffet fitting such a description.

“I know, I’ve never met a more uncivilized spider in my life, they’re so mean!” Muffet scowled and glanced over as the bell at the counter was dinged. “I’ll be right back to get your order, dearie.”

Ebony waved the spider off before joining him at the table smiling brightly.

“A fan of spiders I presume?” Her smile grew and she suddenly flooded him with spider facts some of which he already knew about. Though he didn’t mind, he didn’t think he would ever mind.

“We use to have a tarantula, but it died of old age.” She glanced over the menu. “I think I’m going to like this place.”

Papyrus felt like he was stupid then. Humans liked animals, they usually claimed they had a favourite of sorts and many kept pets. It’s something he was told that helped and hindered with their integration into society. Some thought they should be kept in zoos because they were “beasts” while others argues that they were sentient beings and should be treated as such. He honestly never thought to ask Ebony of her opinion until now.

“How do you feel about monsters?” Ebony looked up from her menu with curiosity sparking in her eyes before looking down again.

“Well I won’t lie, I was a bit afraid at first, the first ever monster I saw was made of fire and it freaked me out…” she looked over at Muffet, “but then I realized not all of them are scary and the first one I met was really kind to me so I wasn’t afraid anymore.”

“I use to hate humans.” Her eyes snapped up to him wide and for a split second fearful at his sudden confession. “We had been locked Underground because them, the king’s children died because of them, I lost an eye because of them… they were also less than pleased when they first met me and my brother.” He glanced away from her and clenched his firsts. “I have come to learn they're not all bad either.”

The human looked as if they wanted to speak to say something, but Muffet came over for their order and he was sorta glad it didn’t come up again after. Glad that they could drink tea in peace and carry on with small talk of puzzles and spiders and what ever else the human desired to speak of.

0_0

The sky was clouded over again, the lights of the city reflecting off it like peeling paint. Even if there weren’t any clouds the sky would look like rust coloured water from the light pollution. It wouldn’t be long through till him and Sans went on their little adventure to clear skies and actual stars. 

Once Blue and Paps had offered to take them both up to the mountain where they had emerged, but neither liked the idea. The place they had been trapped in for years open to them despite knowing their own people wouldn’t be greeted by the same fate. They couldn’t look at a view that no one else would be able to see, the first glimpse of freedom. It would be bad enough they would be seeing the stars. Perhaps thats why the waited for so long, they didn’t see it as fair. 

To Papyrus even seeing this peeling sky didn’t seem fair, not when so many others were looking as dust clung rocks and darkness. Even Waterfall didn’t compare with this, not with all the monsters having pulled the gems from the stone for profit. It wasn’t fair, it never would be. He had to live with that now, and he wasn’t sure how he would, but he would try.

He shifted feeling the chill of wet grass and a slight breeze seep into his bones. He should get up and go in, it would rain soon and he was directly in the open. Though the breeze was nice and it kept him awake, it kept him in the here and now. Not wherever the Underground wished to pull him. 

He was here, his brother inside sleeping, the others safe at home or where ever they currently were, Ebony said her brother was finally visiting. He would go training with Undyne and Paps tomorrow and they would end up cooking. Everything was fine, things were looking up, damn he’d say he was happy if he knew what that was anymore. Though he could live with this, this content peace even if it was just until the next problem or the next episode. He could live with all of it if just for the moment. Just for now, he could live with this solitary piece of life. For in this exact moment he was alone and their would always be more to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter as promised next will be up tomorrow and is of better quality.


	23. Betting games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another day another chapter

It had been awhile since Papyrus had trained with Paps and this world’s Undyne. The very first time he had been very hesitant mainly because of Undyne. In his world they had a very tense relationship after he dusted her father and took off her arm. She said she couldn’t blame him, but he was never really able to fully trust her after. He had worried this Undyne would have the same level of hate, but she hadn’t and he ever so slowly relaxed around her. 

In reality he had more to worry about from Papyrus who was generally on equal ground with him if he didn’t hold back. Even then Papyrus always beat him. He was accustomed to playing dirty and hitting for blood and dust, it was a large accommodation that he had to get use to at the beginning and for it only ever spared with Raz at first.

Now he could spar with the two original monsters without worry of dust or marrow, something he had always wanted back in his world. 

“How many jobs does your brother have anyway?” Undyne asked Paps during their routinely brake, glancing over at Bone Bag who was selling hotdog over by the parks path.

“TO MANY.” Paps bemoaned, which was a bit surprising since he usually complained about how lazy he is.

“It’s keeping him alive.” Both of them looked at him in confusion then, and he felt his good brow raise. “You don’t know? A monster shop keeper can’t be attacked, many in the Underground abused this and sometimes randomly tried to sell things in the middle of a fight, it can be instigated at anytime and also revoked if the shopkeeper themselves wishes to fight.”

“We should just make every monster a shop keeper.” Undyne muttered miffed and Paps nodded in his agreement before they both looked over at Bone Bag again. “How many ‘shopkeeper’ jobs does he have then?”

“… I’M REALLY NOT SURE.” Paps admitted, and Papyrus could tell them since he did know. Stretch and Rus decided to find out who had the most jobs between Stretch and Bone Bag and he had be them victim of being the judge.

“Want to make a bet on it?” Undyne offered and Paps nodded excitedly, Papyrus would have joined in if it had been fair game but it wasn’t.

“I’ll pass.”

“Okay 50g he has more than 7 jobs.” Undyne offered and Paps smiled as if he knew he was going to win this.

“I SAY HE HAS SEVEN JOBS.” Papyrus snorted and they both looked at him.

“Well your both wrong, he had six jobs.” Stretch had won the earlier bet only because he had six and a summer job and Blue never tried to make him quit any.

“WHAT!” Undyne screeched and chucked her water bottle at said Bone bag, the bottle hitting the sign on his cart and falling to the ground. He waved at them and then Papyrus saw his brother appear beside him. “Edge you better fight me for that one! You could of helped me!”

“NONSENSE UNDYNE, EDGY ME WOULD OF HELPED ME ME.” Papyrus watched as a battle ensued between them both. He might have joined this as well if he wasn’t so tired. He hadn’t slept in awhile as he had been stifling more of Sans’s bad dreams and the knife wound woke him up when ever he laid on it for too long. To think there had been a time when he wouldn’t have been able to choose not to fight.

Suddenly his brother was beside him with a twisted smile, but his eyes were still shifty. “me an’ classic are goin’ bar hoppin’ later.” Papyrus took a swig of his water as he nodded, curious as to why he brother even bothered to tell him. “at human bars.”

He would of done one of those spit takes Stretch so loved if he had lips, at the mention of the such a thing, yet he lacked the aforementioned muscle.

“Are you stupid?” Papyrus growled as he set his water down roughly. “Human are still not trust worthy.”

“maybe, and that’s why I’m tellin’ ya, just incase.” Sans’s smile grew tight and he glanced over towards Bone bag and then to the sparing duo. 

“I have to go find your dust in a back alley.” Papyrus rebuked, the line turning out more as a sentence than an actual question as he continued to question how badly his brother was currently wishing for a death sentence. 

“nah more like a dumpster, wouldn’t accept anythin’ less.” A wink was sent his way, as Sans’s hands found his pockets and he turned fully away from Papyrus.

“Of course you wouldn’t.” Papyrus grumbled before downing the rest of his water. 

Sans hummed and then was gone and so was the bone bag and his cart. Undyne’s water having magically reappeared beside Paps’s picnic basket. 

“It’s you fucking home, gremlin.” He hoped to Asgore that his brother some how heard that. It was highly likely, even more so that Bone Bag also heard it.

“EDGY ME, COME SPAR!” Papyrus pushed himself to his feet at Paps call and scoff slightly of Undyne being sprawled out in the grass. She was an idiot for never letting Paps into the guard earlier, he might of been one of the strongest monsters in the Underground if he wasn’t so nice and his brother wasn’t some sort of magic power house. 

“No, no Pap I can keep going.” Undyne insisted as she attempted to get up, limbs un-compliant. Thats one reason he could say he was glad he didn’t have muscles. Bones could ache but never enough he couldn’t stop using them unless they were severely broken. Muscles became useless after awhile, even magical ones.

“Take a rest Undyne, theirs a few new patterns I wanted to try out anyway.” He wasn’t to make sure they would work, then maybe share them like he did with danger marks and then hopefully get this one pattern legalized so that monsters could protect themselves better. He was working so slowly to do some good, but it was better than nothing to him.


	24. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red POV. Red causes some trouble and the memories keep rolling.

Sans twitched, the falling cup sounding like shattering glass in his head. His eyes blinking hard to disperse the excess magic that was leaking from it. His collar tingling around his neck at the spike in his magic. Classic had ahold of his arm, pulling him back as lights flooded his sockets and then everything blipped into darkness.

“red?”

No he wasn’t Red he was Sans, Sans the skeleton. Papyrus would be wondering where he was, he would punish Sans if he was out too late. If people saw him out too late. Papyrus would gut him if he knew what happened, if he saw what he did.

There were arms around his and he swung hard enough to throw the person off of him and into some object or another. His magic blazing up and around him spiralling and bathing the room in red. His eyes zoned in on a figure pushing themselves up from a shattered chair. Their HP slowly ticking down. They were red, everything was red, everything. Even the stark crimson that was leaking from their bones…

No that wasn’t right. Papyrus was the only other skeleton, and him… him and Papyrus, and Papyrus and Sans, and Sans and Papyrus, and Papyrus and Sans. He was Sans, no not Sans. Red now just like the room. Just like Sans was, Sans’s marrow…

“shit, shit, shit, shit!” Magic falling away with a single bone cracking a light switch and Red had his hands hovering close to Sans but never touching. No he would only hurt him more. There was marrow on his sweeter and shirt, covering his one hand and dripping to the floor. A small crack ran up the side of his skull, leaking marrow on to the floor. Enough to almost send Red into another fit.

“i’m alright, sleep saves me yet again.” Sans gave him an easy smile despite the shrunken eye lights focused on his hand. “should of never touched you during a fit.” Sans pitched and Red was quick to catch him despite his earlier thoughts

“we need papyrus, he can heal you, oh god i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to, i didn’t.” Red pressed his sleeve against the wound hard enough to make Sans wince and draw in a breath.He was too panicked to even try bringing up his own healing magic, too afraid.

“i know, i just need a moment, it looks worse than it is.” Red felt a flicker in his magic, in his collar and shook his head. He could see that. He knew what Sans’s HP had been up to from all his napping and it had barely went down despite what had happened. Sans was fine, wouldn’t even have a scar, and Red was panicking.

“i-i-i-i-i.”

“hey, hey! i’m fine, no harm done, you weren’t yourself anyway.” No that wasn’t right he was entirely too much himself in that moment. Not the mask he had been so carefully crafted over all this time. He had been Sans from Underfell not Red, not who he needed to be.

He shook his head quickly, clutching Sans down when he moved to get up again. Sans wasn’t ready to get up, Red knew. He also knew he wasn’t ready for Sans to be ready to get up. He needed another moment, another second.

“even that other guy’s okay, got you outta there before anythin’ could happen.” Suddenly Red’s phone was going off. It was so glaringly loud to his ears, everything was too much right now. He felt Sans dig into his pocket and pull out the bane of his pain. Answering it with the slide of a phalanges. “‘ello?”

“Where is Sans!” Papyrus’s voice rang through, shrill as usual, but undercut by worry. Something Red never noticed before, something he refused to notice before. Something he still refused to notice now.

“he’s right here, there was… an episode, he’s recuperating now.” An episode, such a simple explanation to almost killing a man from saying a few words in the wrong order. Humans knew some monsters mental issues from the Underground, knew that some were much worse than others. Yet, he didn’t think this would be something that would fly under the radar. No one knew what everyone else's triggers were.

“Was anyone hurt?” Actually asking mostly about Red, but still couldn’t out right say it.

“…yeah, i got a bit scuffed, nothing terrible, but I can’t see Paps being happy about it.” A disappointment Red didn’t need.

“…I’ll be there in ten minutes, don’t let San-Red leave.” His verbal prison.

“wasn’t planning on it.” His physical prison.

The phone cut out and Sans whipped his red covered hand on the leg of his shorts. His mental prison.

Life was a prison.

()_()

_There was always something to haunt Sans. A toy bike, a bag of dust, his scars, his brother’s. He was haunted like a ghost by it all, because it was all his fault. His lazy ass was the reason for it all, so like hell he was going to miss his brother being sworn into the position of captain, to his one dream coming true. One Sans had no help in._

_His brother looked proud, strong, the hero the entire Underground needed. Sans wanted to hug him, but couldn’t, wanted to apologize, but couldn’t. He wanted to do so much but couldn’t because it could mean their lives, because he was afraid of Papyrus. Of what he might do if he showed a bit of weakness._

_His brother’s eyes zeroed in on him as he spoke, the king not even here, too busy babying Undyne who lost an arm. “Starting today there will be changes.” He brother spoke through a fight torn throat. “Rules will be enforced and life will be better, under no circumstance should a stripe ever be hurt and if they are you better pray I never find you.” Funny considering Papyrus was still in his._

_“What about collars?” Someone called, someone with no fear or was too stupid to know it._

_“Collared or not children will not be harmed, they will not be fighting, as for hurting anyone else in a collar… fair game until further notice.” Only because it might keep some safe was what he knew his brother wanted to say. It was all he could do until he was able to get the no dusting thing in play. “Sans come here.”_

_Suddenly eyes were on him, so many eyes. He stepped forward and up onto the stage, right in front of his brother. He wanted to shrink away under so many eyes._

_“Since so many of you seem to need visual proof.” He paused as he pulled out a collar and without even asking clipped it around Sans’s neck. “My brother is under my protection, anyone who harms him shall suffer the consequences of both myself and the guard, and that goes for anyone collared by a royal guard as well.”_

_For Papyrus to give him such a strong message, to give others the same one. Touch him and die. Oh but wasn’t there so much more to it in this world. It was a sign of love, family, protection, something the strongest of the family gave to the weaker in order to keep them safe and know they were worth living. To take it off would mean you were disowning your family, disowning their love, them. Sans could never do that to Papyrus not after everything he didn’t do, when he had no reason too._

_He could give one to Papyrus, but it might be considered an insult now to him. That and he would hardly accept Sans brotherly love after all this time without it, when weakness made him sneer. No Sans would just try to show it in little ways if he could, in anyway that he could._

_Either way Sans wasn’t bothered again, especially with such a public collaring. There was also a spike in admissions to the guard, everyone trying get a piece of protection for someone else. Yet, the Underground never seemed to change especially after the King stripped down everything his brother built up with a single sentence._

_“In this world it’s, kill or be killed.”_


	25. Automatic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shit gets real

Papyrus had felt panic as soon as his magic had reacted and his magic had raced across his bones in an array of static. It wasn’t as bad as if Sans was actually hurt, but the level of panic and fear that it signified was concerning in its self. Then there was the fact that Sans and the Bone Bag had gone to human bar and that was icing on the top of the cake of stress.

The call had been automatic, and he couldn’t help but think that he was glad that it wasn’t his Sans that was hurt. A horrible thought really one that any other Papyrus would look down on him for, but never blame him for. They would all do the same if it came down to their own brother.

Going to Sans was also automatic as the collar led him to where Sans was so long as the state of stress was still active. Something he didn’t think would be going away anytime soon, not with the Bone Bag injured. Those fools would likely give up their favourite condiment if it helped the other in anyway.

What wasn’t automatic was asking himself if he would need help. He couldn’t use healing magic as well as the others, and Sans wasn’t likely in a state that would be good for healing especially if he hadn’t healed Bone Bag already. There was also the question of just how badly scuffed up that he was. He could talk coherently if not a bit slurred, but that could be from drinking and he wasn’t even sure where the injury was. Calling Paps was probably a given anyway since his brother was involved and this probably will turn into a Human/Monster social issue.

Yes, calling Paps was a given if he didn’t reach his house before he could do such. After all Papyrus was charging in through their front door.

The first thing he noticed was the two skeletons on the floor curled up by a broken dinning chair. There was some marrow on the floor, but a lot less than he expected. He could see his brother’s shaking shoulders and how he held up his sleeve to the other’s skull. The Bone Bag’ eye lights were thin slits of pain in sunken sockets.

It barely took Papyrus two steps to reach them, all his energy going into pulling his muttering brother away from the Bone Bag so he could address the problem. It wasn’t a large crack, barely ran the length of his smallest finger and his HP was good. Still high above where it was supposed to be. The fact it was still leaking marrow was a bit concerning, but nothing a good bandage and a healing wouldn’t fix. The eye lights he didn’t trust though, the two things just didn’t seem to go together. Magic shock maybe?

“Apply pressure.” He handed Bone Bag a cloth from his pocket before grabbing his left hand and sending a small amount of magic into his system. It echoed back at him irregularly and he cursed under his breath. “I’m calling Paps.”

“now wait a second, you don’t need to do that.” The blue clad skeleton tried to rebuke as he held the cloth to his skull. Sans was still holding onto him stiffly, eyes wild.

“Your leaking marrow and you have magic shock, _I’m calling_ _Paps_.” Bone Bag slumped into Sans more, closing his eyes and sighing in defeat at that. Papyrus made the call.

0_0

It was very little to say that Paps wasn’t happy. He lectured the two trouble twins the entire time he was healing Bone Bag and them proceeded to baby both Sans right after with blankets and coco. Of course that babying also included Bone Bag to a month of bed rest and a doctors appointment for the magic shock.

After a brief description of what happened Paps then went on a tangent about paper work and trouble along with the reason for the magic shock. Apparently the body didn’t work to well when magic to similar to your own was used on your soul. Body not sure wether to accept it or reject it

It was only after that did Sans finally come out of his shock enough to be dragged home. He really didn’t want to leave, but Bone Bag requested it so he went, still wrapped up in a blanket and with a scowl to scare the wolves. It wasn’t until the door to their home closed that his brother suddenly cracked. He yelled and cursed and chucked shit across the room. Papyrus just stood there and let it happen. Let his brother take his frustrations out. The furniture was replaceable, the house was replaceable, his brother was not.

A knock sounded on the door and Papyrus had half a sense to ignore it, but knew the other person would know they were home from the amount of racket. If the foul curses didn’t scare them off he doubted that they would leave anyway.

Staring up at him was one of the dog group, Lesser Dog, if he wasn’t mistaken by the differences in universes. One of which held up a manila envelope with his name on it. He took it and with some hesitance patted the dog on the head and sent him off.

When he closed the door, Sans was still cursing when he turned. Deciding to ignore it for the time being he teared open the top and pulled out the clean pressed letter.

_Dear Mr. Edge Fell,_

_The Embassy of Human and Monster Affairs has requested your presence-_ he skipped a few lines- _Their are reasons to believe you were involved in the accident with Mr. Red Fell and Andrew Newman yesterday evening. The Embassy would like to look into this further and need your presence to do so.-_

He cut himself off from reading more, just a bunch of shit on trying to make it look innocent when they were obviously blaming him for something and more; please come to the Embassy right now. It was all routine wording for when ever he was getting a new strike on his record, he was certain the page was looking pretty black by now. Though that was just the thing wasn’t it. He was getting another strike for another thing he had no part in. Of course he would be blamed for something he had no control of, some humans in the Embassy convinced he had commanded his brother to attack the human. That he threatened his brother and were now calling in a summons.

That or the human Sans got into a fight with lied to them. Either way he was unrightfully handed out shit. Where was his brother’s letter? Why was he in trouble for something he wasn’t even present for and all other parties getting off scotch free?

He looked up to where Sans had stopped in the middle of the living room and staring at him warily. Only then did he take the time to notice his magic had formed in his eye, or the way magic swirled within his bones. He quickly drew in his magic and stamped his LV back down into his soul, strolling past Sans and dropping the offending piece of paper on the table which was miraculously still standing.

“what’s ‘at?”Sans questioned as he stepped forward and picked up the paper. His temper still steaming, but nullified for the time being.

“A summons, I’m getting blamed for _your_ mistakes again.” He didn’t even care that he was indoors at the moment, or that he still had his boots on. He took a smoke out and lite it up between his teeth.

“my mistake! i ‘ad no control over what ‘appened!” Sans flung the paper down and glared at him with all sorts of fury. “that, that _human_ was tha one ta start it!”

“He talked and you attacked him, is what your pal said.” He tried to be calm, but his LV was slowly creeping up his spine again. “Yes, you don’t have control over your episodes I know, but you knew you shouldn’t have gone to a human bar, you knew and you still went.”

“so what? i’m supposed ta sit in tha little bubble _you_ placed up for me?” Magic sparked up in Sans’s eye and it was a great feat for him to keep himself from doing the same. “i’m a grown skeleton papyrus ya don’t get ta control me anymore.”

Papyrus pinched his nasal ridge and levelled a look at Sans’s. His cigarette heavily smoking red wisps up into the air between his fingers as he used it as an outlet for his magic. “That hardly the point brother.”

“oh sure it isn’t, your fallin’ back ta old ways just because yar record is gettin’ a bit more tarnished because of an accident, grow up papyrus shit happens.” Papyrus almost wanted to consider that is was alcohol or shock doing this to his brother. He really did, but magic wasn’t that focused under the influence of either.

“Sans! That is hardly what I’m getting at, would you just listen for one moment?!” Papyrus snapped, feeling his magic flare through his eye and across his skull before he was able to gutter it out. Sans reeled for only a moment.

“no, no! i’m not listenin’ ta ya anymore papyrus!” Sans’s finger looped through the link in his collar, eye blazing. “i shoulda stoped listenin’ ta ya years ago, when ya made me fear ya, when ya ignored me, when ya _beat_ tha shit outta me! yar not a captin, yar hardly a broth-“

“Sans!” The flick of his arms were automatic, the way his magic hummed. He knew it was all a mistake as soon as his brother flinched. He had no time to react, he really didn’t. He didn’t even know what hit him. Not even after he was face first in the floor with his cigarette burning a hole in the floor a few inches from his face.

The pain was unimaginable, and it only got worse with what came next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay first this is the last chapter until next Sunday, sorry not sorry for the sorta cliff-hanger. 
> 
> Secondly I rewrote this chapter a bunch of times, but I felt somethings needed to be added and moved and thus cliff-hanger. This version I wrote last night when I really should have been redrafting an essay that's due tomorrow, but its better than the version I was going to post so there's that.
> 
> Thirdly, I forgot to mention yesterday, but during Reds pov he will now address himself as Red and Sans as Sans, but I can't remember where I planned for his next chapter to be and I don't have my plot line on me at the moment so that might not even be relevant at the moment. 
> 
> Lastly, if you got questions or comments I'll still be checking my account and will get back to you as soon as I can. 
> 
> Thats all I gotta say so see ya next Sunday, have a great week! :)


	26. Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge needs a hug and gets one.

Everything ached, his vision was swimming, dipping between murky blackness and seeing his brother encased in magic. His head hurt the worst, the cracks in his skull screaming and hearing sorta of ringing. He wasn’t entirely sure what hit him, just noticed that he was currently eating carpet and his brother was breathing heavily.

“you know what papyrus? brothers don’t beat each other, they don’t make them fear them, they don’t ignore them for their whole life?!” Sans huffed as Papyrus looked up, his good eye squinting up as Sans, only for it to widen when he saw Sans gripping at his collar and tugging on it. “so i guess that makes you no brother of mine.”

Papyrus felt his magic scream as the collar was torn from Sans’s neck, magic dancing around the leather in waves as it was flung at him and bounced off his skull. Laid before him on the carpet right beside where it was turning red.

It hurt worse than any attack ever did, he never felt such pain in his soul before. It burned with failure, and stun with betray. Both having the collar ruined and seeing it being ripped off by it’s wearer causing a cascade of pressure to be placed directly on his soul. Why had this happened, why now when everything was looking a bit better?

“you were never my brother, i should of let those snakes have you all those years ago.” The door slammed, not even a shortcut. Sans-no Red leaving the shattered remains of a skeleton behind. Leaving what was once his brother behind.

He wasn’t sure what happened, they were doing so well. Was it stress? Was Red walking a dream? Was it something he did? He wasn’t a brother, how was he if he didn’t even know why this had all happened, he wasn’t much of anything was he? What use was he to this world?

He had taken two steps up the hill only to be bunted back to the bottom.

Papyrus -no he was Edge, Papyrus had a brother- lifted himself up off the floor on shaky limbs, phalanges digging sharply into the carpet. Marrow streamed down his face and onto the floor, staining the carpet an ugly splotch or brown. The collar laid before him, still sparking magic, the magic he had so carefully ingrained in it all those years ago. The collar he had made by hand, and one Sans had promised never to take off even if it meant dusting. It now laid in pieces before him, a testament to their broken relationship.

Edge pushed himself to his feet, snaring the collar in his grip on the way up and looking around the living room. His body felt battered, maybe, he wasn’t sure. There was pain but it was like it was slipping away. Ever so slowly, he was becoming numb.

There was still marrow leaking from his skull, from where he wasn’t sure, but it was staining his shirt now too. He needed help with it, his hand were too shaky and magic on the fritz. Paps? No he had his brother to deal with. Blue? Picking up his brother to come see Sans. Raz? No. He didn’t want to bother any of them, what about the human? Ebony would help him, said she owed him, they were… friends.

How to get there? Taxi was out, so was walking. Car? Truck? Motorcycle? Couldn’t call her, can’t teleport… when did he get in the truck? Why was it moving?

His hand were still shaking, there was marrow on the seat and steering wheel. His head was throbbing.

When had he gotten to the humans house? Did he knock yet? He was getting marrow all over her front step, he would have to clean that up. He should be more carful.

The door pried open and he was met with a smile that quickly turned into a horrified yelp. His head rung, and there was marrow in his eyes. He saw red when ever his vision dipped back into focus.

“Can I call in another favour?” His words shook they felt raspy like he just got off a chain smoke. His breath raw like someone had made him swallow shrapnel, chest heavy and cold like it was filled with ice. He didn’t like the sound of it, reminded him to much of back then.

He was on the couch next, springs digging into his back and monster candy being placed into his hand. Had the human said something? Hospital? Concussion? No he just had a crack nothing more. Shock? Maybe, maybe thats why he felt so eerily calm, why the pain was gone. He ate the monster candy, pain slowly set in and his mind clearing from the darkness while his sight rose to greet it.

Thats right he was hurt. Sans-no Red hurt him. The collar was still in his hand, he could feel tears in his eyes. No he couldn’t cry, he wasn’t allowed to. No weakness, never, not in front of anyone. Even if his bad eye was burning and the light he usually had lite for appearances was out. No crying.

“Edge.” A worried voice, soft, Ebony.

“I’m sorry.” It cracked like strained glass, his body folding in. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He brought the collar up to his eyes, feeling his tears falling without his consent as he just felt something in him break. His own magic snap at his face off the torn leather of the collar. He felt arms around him and he gripped at them as well. Something solid and here. Something that wasn’t going to leave him. Then why were they pulling away? Was it him? Was it because of what happened?

The collar in his hand sparked and he felt his skull begin to cool, bandages and more monster candy. The collar sizzled and hissed.

He failed, he failed at being a captain, failed at keeping his promise, failed at being a brother. He was just one big failure. One that desperately wanted a smoke.

With a morbid but clear thought he had to wonder if the smoke would burn as it left the new crack in his skull. Just like how he soul was burning with the new crack placed on its heavily scared surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm Back for the time being, but the next two weeks are going to be fairly busy again so I might be late with the next two chapters as well.  
> Also I have never been in shock or seen anyone in shock and the internet is very limited on it's info, but I know there are different kinds and they do different things. I know of someone who was in a car roll and was looking for their shoes right after. So I went for extreme confusion since Edge isn't gravely wounded just in extreme emotional shock.


	27. Awake

_"Papyrus! Come look at this." A smile aimed at him, two pairs of eyes shining in excitement._

_"I'm coming." His own_ _slight smile._

_~~~_

_The hallway was dark and all Edge could hear was quite sniffles. Then a scurrying that made him pause, magic rising. The shattering of glass and a scream. More quiet footsteps._

_He hurried forward, boots kicking up dirt, no not dirt, dust, and clouding the air. His eyes catching traces of red handprints smeared across the wall and more dust. He felt his eyes start to blaze. There was a doorway and the next scream had him tearing through it._

_“No!”_

_He was too late._

_0-0_

Edge sat up with a gasp, his chest heaving and everything aching. One hand coming up to press a palm into his good eye only to pull away with a hiss, his vision swimming for just a moment. Blinking hard, his sight zoned in on the collar in his other hand.

Memories coming flooding back to him, his breath hitching as a tiny spark of red magic fluttered across his metacarpals. His soul lurched into his throat as his hand unclenched and the collar rolled to sit in the middle of his palm.

It wasn’t some horrible dream, San-Red really did disown him.

His head snapped to the side at a creak in the floor boards, magic pumping into his eye. He winced as it fizzled out and a shot of pain rolled through his skull. The noise paused as he blinked away the magic and pain and focused on the person across from him.

Ebony sat in her wheelchair, two cups of something set between her thighs as she was wheeling into the room. She looked tired and hesitant for a brief moment.

“Your awake, that’s good.” She finished rolling over, stopping beside him and holding out a cup to him. “You spoked me when you showed up at my door yesterday, I was going to call an ambulence, but that candy? In that first aid kit you left here seemed to help a lot, and you said no hospital, so…”

He took the cup, trying to remember at what point he had said ‘no hospital’ but his mind was drawing a complete blank of the events after Sa-Red had closed the door. He barely remembered that he was at Ebony’s house at all, let alone how he got here. He hated not knowing, but the bandages around his skull and how it was throbbing gave a pretty good indication as to why. He just hoped he hadn’t broken any laws, or broken anything in general he didn’t need another mark on his record. Wasn’t he supposed to go to the Embassy? For the-

“Edge!” He jumped as a hand landed on his forearm, tea spilling over the rim of his cup and spilling down the side of his hand. He barely even felt the heat, just watched the brown liquid drip over his greyed bones. “You doing okay?”

His gaze flashed up watching as the human winced and realized his eye wasn’t lite up. An attempt at igniting it only sent pain through his skull. “As well as someone in my condition can be.” He watched as slight relief flashed across her face and he took a moment to realize his previous silence must have been worrying.

“Thats… good I guess… you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?” He watched at her fists clenched around her cup until they were white.

“No, but I’ve lived with worse, I should be fine.” He watched her eyes flash to his bandaged eye and then down to her cup again right before she asked the question he knew was coming despited his slowed thought process.

“What happened?” He considered lying, holding it off, anything, but even with a head injury he wasn’t that kind of skeleton.

“My brother and I got into an argument, things escalated… quickly.” He sipped at his tea to hide his grimace, his eyes darting away from Ebony’s shock.

“Red did this?” Her voice was unbelieving, and it would have been unbelieving to him to if the collar wasn’t still clenched in his hand and he hadn’t had what he now guessed to be a Blaster at his back.Even then he was still processing it all. “That asshole!”

He jerked at the noise and the words themselves, his eye zeroing in on the fuming human. “Pardon?”

“That asshole,” she repeated, “I get you guys don’t come from the best of places, but really? Hurting you that badly over an argument? What kinda asshole does that?” Edge looked away from her at her fuming. No he never hurt Sans to this extent, never even shaved an HP off his health bar, but it hurt. He had hurt him and now he was hurt. He wasn’t going to argue with the asshole part though.

“How long have I been asleep?” The human cut her ranting off to look at him, fidgeting in her chair.

“The bester part of a day, if you hadn’t woken up after twenty-four hours I was calling an ambulance.” He nodded slightly and turned so his feet rested on the ground instead of hanging over the end of the couch. His body throbbing with the action. “Hey, no, wait a minute here, you're not getting up unless you have someone here to pick you up or you can light that eye of yours, lay back down.”

He huffed on a breath in amusement, but complied none the less. He probably wouldn’t have in most cases, but he really didn’t want to go home yet, nor did he think that he could drive. If he brought a vehicle that is. He also didn’t feel like arguing, especially with the way his thoughts were working right now.

“Now is there anything I can do or get that will help you heal?” She was determined, it was written all over her face just like… he blinked away the dream from before.

“Monster food, there should be more in the first aid kit.” He leaned back so his head rested on the arm rest, his feet once again hanging over the edge.

“Okay, stay here and I’ll go get you some, then we’ll change those bandages.” He couldn’t argue with any of that. Food, a change of bandages, and hopeful sometime soon a much needed smoke break… Maybe a nap as well. He could be content with that for now. For now he didn’t have to think of his brother, of going home, or the Embassy, or anyone else. He could just take a moment to heal.

He let out a long sigh as he held the collar to his chest, feeling like a weight was suddenly put upon it as sparks cascaded off his burnt his bones.


	28. Empty

Edge stared at his reflection as he tried to light up his eye once again. White blinking on before it gutted out into inky blackness once again. He narrowed his sockets at himself, trying to force some magic to blaze to life, only for it too gutter out as well. His frustration was very evident, even more so to the human staring at him from the hallway. Her eyes kind, but pained.

“Their damaged.” He grouched. He could see just fine out of his good eye it was just the eye lights. Though even if he could get his good eye alight again he wasn’t so sure about the bad one, not with how bad the cracks were spread across his skull. Honestly he was lucky he wasn’t in a coma or could currently stand, despite standing just being from sheer stubbornness and a need to be able to take care of himself. Ebony didn’t need a burdened much longer.

“Well then why don’t you come have breakfast and we can do some puzzles and you can try again later.” Ebony offered and he scoffed. Later, it had already been two days of basically all sleep. At home he would already be dead, already be seen as weak just for the fact he couldn’t use magic. At home Sans would have been there to heal him and keep him safe, and now he didn’t have anything.

“Yes, I thinks thats a good idea.” He followed her, a bit shakily, to the kitchen in which she had cooked some eggs and bacon. She had also added some monster food from the kit for him, and he was grateful for that, but they would be out soon and it only did so much anyway.

He sat in his chair heavily, back protesting the entire time and he was carful not to bang it too hard against the wood. He didn’t need to do that again and start seeing spots too. Even then he was fairly uncomfortable and his bones protested at him, he almost was tempted to go back to the spring filled couch.

They sat in general silence as they ate, just the scrape of dishes and breathing. Well the human’s breathing, his ribs hurt too much to even attempt to do the motion. He felt a bit guilty for that since it had freaked Ebony out the first time she noticed, when he was asleep. Little to say he woke up to a frantic human who was trying not to spook him awake.

Dishes were soon placed into a dish washer much to Edge’s annoyance. The human had trouble with the sink and refused to let him wash anything hence dishes into horrible machine. Then they went to the puzzle room in which Edge sat in another wooden chair just as uncomfortable as the last and the human pulled a puzzle down from one if the many shelves.

“I usually don’t like taking this one out, but I’ll make an exception.” She dumped the contents on the table a sheet of white staring back at him, each piece looking like it was hand made. That in its self made Edge question why anyone would build a handmade puzzle if you could just get one from the store. “This one’s got a secret, but you got to build it to find out.”

Ah just like the puzzles from the Underground, only he hoped this one didn’t have a blade that would swing at your face. He had faced enough of those to last a life time.

“What kind of surprise?” Edge questioned as he sorted out the edge pieces of the puzzle, while the human just started building like a heathen. Of course there might not be much point in his sorting, not with all of them being the same colour, but he found it hard to focus enough to try and discern the pieces to match each other.

“A good one, my dad built it for me.” She seemly randomly grabbed a piece before putting it in the correct place. “He built a lot of puzzles for me, tried to make them harder every time, there was only one puzzle I haven’t been able to figure out.”

“Is that so?” His voice trailed off as he tried to focus on pieces, he could hear his phone buzzing in the other room. More text messages from the Embassy or the other skeletons he was sure, but he didn’t want to deal with anyone. Only one text was all he was willing to send and that was to Sans to go find his brother to make sure he wasn’t dead in a ditch somewhere.

Even after what Red did he still couldn’t let his brother get hurt, still couldn’t accept that it was all some sick dream. His skull ached and he needed a smoke.

“Could I step out for a moment?” Ebony glanced up at him as he stood, every bone protesting in his wake. Curious eyes forced him to explain himself. “I need a smoke.”

Her patient look quickly turned to one of displeasure, but she nodded and gestured him out. She hadn’t argued with him about it yet, but it was clear she wanted to. Almost everyone one but the other skeletons did, but even then they were surprised he indulged himself. Even Razz refused to touch the things and he was more like him than any one else.

He stood on the front step with his cigarette in hand as he stared down at his marrow stains on the step and leading up to it. Ebony couldn’t really do it without dragging herself, and his back really didn’t like bending at the moment. He would clean it up as soon as he could, along with the seat of his truck. Then there was likely the house and anywhere else his shock hazed mind had decided to walk. He just hoped no one went over there before he could least they think he was dead.

He went back inside, his phone buzzing on the couch where he left it and he picked it up absently. Papyrus was calling, and he stared at it long enough for it to go into voice mail and join how ever many other messages he received. To many if a swipe of his thumb didn’t clear the list.

He made a quick decision to shut his phone down, before he headed back to the human. His shoulder hitting the archway to the puzzle room as he took a moment before he entered, a good chunk of puzzle done on the table. He watched a minute more before he spoke.

“Your very good at those.” He smirked only slightly as the human started, whipping her head to stare at him with wide eyes that shifted into a glare.

“Don’t do that.” She hissed and he understood fully how horrible it was to be startled. He raised his hands in surrender and sat down again to help then human. He could focus just a bit better, and when the puzzle was complete the human was correct in saying the surprise was a good one for if you shut the lights off a picture glowed out in the dark. A picture of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is is a lot earlier than usual, but I had some time and I gotta focus on math tomorrow, but the next chapter might be a bit early since I'm a master procrastinator when it comes to anything and everything. Also if you notice some times Edge refers to red as sans and sometime as red, there's a reason for that.


	29. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say there will be another up spree. How long it will last I am unsure, but I'm hoping to make it to chapter 34 and I know last time I said I want to work on math but I'm making it work!

It was another two day of sleeping on a lumpy couch before he was able to convince Ebony that he was well enough to go home despite the still blank holes in his head. A sight he was sure unnerved the human every morning when she saw him for the first time. Of course it took a lot of convincing and promises and a whole amount of he’ll come visit soons.

Of course none of that settled his own unease of returning back to his own home. Of the possibility of seeing Red, of the mess he surly would have to clean up. He was just glad he could clean up what he could here, despite his constantly protesting bones. Either way he needed to go home and address his emails and text messages and voicemails, all of which he didn’t want to do in front of the human. He was in enough pain already, was enough of a burden.

So with a very tense hug given to the human he left and returned home.

He was glad he had half a mind to shut the door before he left, but he had to scowl to find he left it unlocked. He supposed half of the deal was better than none, and entered the house. He was first and foremost surprise to find little mess in the house its self. Sure there was a burn in the rug and along the one wall, but any marrow in the rug hand been scrubbed clean and he could smell his cleaner emitting off the rug itself.

There was the possibility Papyrus or Blue had come over after he didn’t answer his calls in worry. They could of showed up fond him gone and the marrow and worried cleaned. He couldn’t even phantom the idea of one of the others coming over and doing anything of the sort. Either way they were gone now and the house was empty.

The house was empty.

Papyrus sat heavily into the couch, springs digging into his pelvis and his shoulders slumping heavily. Had anyone even gone looking for him, it wasn’t as if he was trying to hide. He was honestly surprised the Embassy didn’t send police after him. They were trying to blame him for- no he wasn’t going to think of that, or as to why _Sans_ was gone. How it wasn’t a dream and that he wasn’t going to come apologize because that was beneath him. He wasn’t going to think of any of it.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket first, going through his email. Most were work related and customers asking if a date for instalments were good. He would answer those later. There were a few from the Embassy, all of which he trashed, and another few that were unimportant.

Then he went to text messages, there being half a million from a mix of people. He started from the bottom where he found Sans’s simple reply of ‘ok’ to his earlier request and there were no more texts from him after that. Next there were many from Papyrus that started with reminders about ‘family’ events that slowly morphed into worry over the days. Then there were Blue’s all starting about the Embassy and how he was heard he was requested again, about legal things and those too morphed in to worry. There were a few from Rus about where he was and then there were some worried ones from Stretch a few threatening to come home in order to whop his coccyx for not replying and worrying him. None from Red.

Then he checked his voice mail which was full all consisting of the same messages only with voices that made his soul hurt with guilt. He shouldn’t be worrying people like this, it was bad enough Ebony had to see him in such a state. He could simply answer the messages now, but he didn’t want company right now, didn’t want to explain because at the very end of the chain of messages there was either anger or disappointment. He was in the wrong again in everyone’s books and his brother was in the right, because who knew what he told them.

The house was empty.

What did that matter any more. He was alone and he knew deep down this was coming ever since they came here. He wanted to be home in Underfell where things were easy, because all he had to worry about was doing his job. He didn’t have to worry much about politics or payments, or food. Not after becoming captain. Now he had to worry about all that and so much more, he was worried about home.

He could deal with an empty house no matter how much it hurt.

No matter how much the garbage over flowing with mustard bottles reminded him of _Sans_. Of the sock in the corner ripped to shreds along with various sticky notes. The stains on the couch and floor he couldn’t get out no matter how much he scrubbed. The smell of old cigarettes. _Sans’s_ muddy boots at the font door. _Sans’s_ door seeping pollution. A crack in the wall. The collar in his inventory.

Edge chocked on a lump in his throat, his breath wheezy and pained. He stood up and headed up stairs. He passed his room and stood in front of _Sans’s_. He shucked in a breath before opening the door and looking over the frightfully messy room. The one that only got clean when he grouched long enough or did it himself. The one that hasn’t been touched in the past week. One with en empty mattress sitting on the floor without sheets.

He laid on it and stared at the ceiling. Would the Embassy come after him for this too? Come into this room and say he was abusing _Sans_ when he could use any money he wanted? When it was his own fault the room smelt like rotting mustard? Would they just finally put him in jail? Would he just dust? Would everyone just watch?

He curled up on his side and pulled out the collar from his inventory and placed it in front of him. Then he pulled out another, charred and stained but intact and also placed it before him. Two of his biggest failures. His failure as a brother and his failure as a captain. His failures.

His phone was going off again, Stretch’s absurd ringtone filling the air and he took one glance at it before tossing it so it slid across the floor and into a pile of socks. He was sure he heard the screen crack, but was much too tired to care.

He pulled himself closer to himself despite every bone’s protest, the collars constantly in his line of sight. At least till he closed his eyes and let sleep take him. He blessedly dreamed of nothing that night.


	30. An Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Notes at the end!!!!

Rain poured down in sheets and Edge had to wonder why when ever it seemed to rain it was always a thunder storm. Not literally of course, there wasn’t always thunder or lightning like today, but the amount of rain could sure fool you. Edge hated it consecutively and was starting to questioning his life choices about being out in it.

When he had agreed to go on a stroll in the park with Ebony to clear his mind he wasn’t expecting it to be in the rain, or that two parts of the city were so strikingly different in weather. He only went because the human insisted on going even without him and he couldn’t stand the idea of her being out in this weather alone. He also wasn’t expecting her to speed along in front of him out of the cover of the umbrella and getting her self completely soaked.

He did have to admit that his worry over Ebony getting a cold did out weigh his thoughts of Red. So plan accomplished he guessed.

“Would you just slow down for one min-.” He skipped over his words when his legs hazardly crashed into the back of a stopped wheelchair. His bones screamed at him is stress as he stumbled back and the wheelchair rolled forward. Stupid depth perception, stupid injures.

“Oh.” The human said simply as she looked over the lake before them, ripples spreading endlessly across the water as the rain hit against it. The sound deafening as it joined the umbrella’s and ground’s composition with the rain.

He straightened himself out and finally held the umbrella over the human’s skull, considering to offer her his jacket, but held off just because the stunt from before soaked him as well. So they stood in silence and watched the rain against the water. Felt the cold cling to their bodies, the calmness in it all.

“This is… nice.” He mumbled staring out as the sheets turned to a steady drizzle and the human looked back at him with a smile. Hair slicked back in darker rivulets, green eyes shining brightly like freshly bloomed leaves.

“Isn’t it?” They watched for a bit longer before the human sneezed and Edge decided to take control and started to push the chair back towards the house. ~~Mother mode activated~~ He received a faint glare, but he really didn’t feel like taking care of a sick person currently, not with how his bones still felt.

As soon as they returned the human went to her room to change, and Edge wished he had such a privilege. Instead sticking with a towel he borrowed from the bathroom, and hanging what clothes he could, that didn’t leave him scarcely clad, over the shower rod.

It was so weird being so familiar in a house that wasn’t his own. One he had been in just about everyday this week, one he slept in peacefully and could actually consider the owner a… friend. It was nice, refreshing even. Friends weren’t much of a thing in Underfell, and if they were they were only there to stab you in the back when convenient.

He spied him self in the mirror then and god wasn’t he a mess. Still no eye lights, cracks still gapping large, bags growing under his restless eyes. He had only seen himself like this once before, when he first got the scars. Only at the time there was so much more power behind that gaze. What was he supposed to expect though it had only been a week since it happened and there was no point in anything anymore.

He found the human in the living room in the dark. Her body as close to the window as possible as she stared out at the hazy air and rain. He posture relaxed.

“I saw a monster doctor the other day.” She mumbled, her eyes half lidded in content. He could only stare. “They said they could fix my legs.”

“Oh?” A single sound, he couldn’t manage much more not with what was before him. Wondering where the Ebony got the energy to show so many different emotions in a week. Wondering how she can be so content and subdued one moment then either shy or a spit fire. He could never keep track. He didn't exactly mind either.

“It will be a while though, could be months, a year, theres a lot of paper work, lots of dying people before me.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping as she stared at the rain. “The rains so nice, calming… I’ve always liked it.”

Edge shuffled forward, standing beside her as a sudden streak of light flashed across the sky a rumble following shortly after. Edge could remember his first thunder storm, remembered not being able to sleep, attacks summoned at every rumble and flash, his brother-

“Me, my dad, and my brother would all lean over the back of the couch and watch the lightening until we fell asleep, we loved watching it dance.” Her eyes slipped close for a second before she opened them and turned to look at him mouth opened to talk. His phone went off.

He wanted to curse everything, just want to ignore life.

He pulled out his phone, Sans’s number sprawled across the screen, and the name Bone Bag right below it. He almost didn’t want to answer, but it could be good news, could be Red.

“It you would excuse me.” He stepped into the kitchen, pulling in a breath and preparing for the worst. “Hello?”

His soul ached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention yesterday, I increased the chapter count just because I think this may turn out longer than I initially realized since I keep editing my plot. 
> 
> Also, 904 hits, 46 kudos, and 30 comments(half being my own)! Thank you all for your support it's really making me smile! I honestly didn't think this would be so popular from past fan fiction faliures and It means a lot, so thank you! 
> 
> I'm so thankful that I would like to do a special at 50 kudos! (Though I'm not sure on what yet, if you have something you want to see just tell me.) Though I must ask if you would like to see it in the story it's self marked as special or if you want it as a separate entity as part of the series. Comment your thoughts!
> 
> And I uses to love math, really did, and now I hate it.


	31. Cracks

“what kinda asshole are you?” Edge blinked in surprise at the venom in Sans’s voice, he hadn’t heard that tone since he first arrived here and Edge almost dusted someone. It never lead to good things. “first you tell me to go find red and i find him basically in an alcohol coma crying about how much of an asshole you are, while i’m still _healing_ no less, then he sobers up enough to tell me you had a fight and he doesn’t want to return home, then you don’t answer anyone’s calls or messages and papyrus finds marrow on your floor, which red won't explain!”

Edge reminded silent, mind stuck on the first few sentences. As Sans basically said everything he thought over the past few day of being fully awake. Thunder rolled outside and he barely flinched at the sound. Barely flinched when light streaked across the sky.

“now you finally pick up and all you have to say is hello? what the hell is wrong with you?!” Edge took a minute to reply to that, because really what was wrong with him. There was probably a list somewhere, maybe in the Embassy. Very top being worrying people to anger, in any context.

“Absolutely everything.” The silence on the other side of the phone was deafening and Edge had to wonder if Sans hung up. Had to wonder a lot of things with the pain running rampaged through his soul. Maybe if he just focused on the sound of the rain out side it would go away.

“edge?” That level of concern was not something he expect to come out of Sans at the moment, not with the soft spot he held for Red. Not with the justice constantly running through his bones. However, he was still a judge and that meant he needed all the information before he could rule judgement.

“Yes Sans.” He was even tired to his own ears and that wasn’t from the walk he just had. It was from the healing, and interaction with others. It was from the fact he barely ate in the past few days. How sleep would come but he was always more tired after than when he just stayed up. From the nightmares that were plaguing his nights.

“you never…” Sans's vice trailed off into the void between their phones, words soft.

Something about the implications of those two words though, suddenly sent a deep rage through his soul. A growl filtering through his teeth and he had to wonder if it was really such a surprise that he pointed out his flaws. That he knew he was flawed.

“I never what Sans? Never say I’m wrong? That I’m flawed? Because if you do believe such a thing theres a head you have to pull out of your ass, if you so much as think of calling me again to blame me for what happened maybe you should go and ask Red why theres a new crack in my skull before you do.”

In a moment of unwavering confidence he hung up on Sans and shoved his phone in his pocket. The device now silent and he just stared at the human in the kitchen doorway who looked back uncertainly.

He could feel his magic build up behind his eyes painfully, not able to come forth to release its self and the tension in his bones. Not here, never here.

“I got to go.” He brushed past Ebony and her reaching hands, her words. He just wanted to go back to an empty house. Wanted to be alone for awhile. Just a little while.

0-0

The dinning room chair sailed through the air and shattered upon impact with the wall. A book shelf following soon after. Paper backs and knick knacks from the other skeletons falling to the floor, something shattering.

They blamed him, they always blamed him. They blamed him, most of the time just to have someone to blame. Why was he the target of everything. Was he really to blame? Maybe he was.

The TV crashed against the ground, glass coating the carpet.

Yes he was the biggest ass to grace the Earth when he first came over. Yes he had almost dusted monsters, killed humans. Yes he pushed people away. That wasn’t really him, never really was, and it certainly wasn’t now. It was just hard to let go of something he needed his entire life, that he thought he would continue to need.

His bedroom door crunched beneath his feet, eyes zeroed in on the ridiculously empty room. The bookshelf joining the floor.

What the hell was the point anymore? Trying to show them that he had changed. Only Rus and Stretch ever really payed attention and they were both unavailable, both currently mad at him too. Here he thought they knew he would never hurt Red, never. Then they believe him without all the facts. They turn their back on him.

Sheets rained down in shreds and his bed broke apart when it hit the ground. Stuffing leaking out of the holes in the mattress his claws left behind.

People believed what they wanted. They judged others for first impressions and how they looked and never for who they really were. He was all claws and teeth, a constant glare, and leather. The resting bitch face of all hells. Why would he be anything else. He was a monster to the truest definition of the word.

He ripped Red’s collar from his inventory, staring down at it with hallow eyes. The leather ripped and the loop of it scratched up. The one part shinning in the dim light from where it would always be played with.

Life was just shit on a fucking stick thats what it was.

He tossed the collar to the floor and sat down heavily before it.

He wasn’t going to carry it around anymore, not when it hurt more to carry it around than to leave it. Not when it didn’t feel right to have it. Not when he let his anger out as he did and was injured as he was and felt so weak after. He would know where it was anyway, in the wreckage of his life, where it was safer than being with him.

He drew his knees to his chest and looked down at the collar. Looking at the destroy room, the empty house. His bones were still sore, eyes still empty. His body just felt weak especially after using so much energy. He leaned back against a piece of his bed, skull swimming at the action.

Maybe if he just listened to the rain and thunder and watched the lightening everything would just be washed away with it. He closed his eyes and sighed. 

The rain was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They'll be a chapter up tomorrow for sure and then it might not be till Sunday again.


	32. MK

_The door slammed behind Papyrus as he stormed into the house, a trail of dust following him in his wake. It was literal and figurative hell out there, everyone scrounging over the rations for the week. Dust flying even with the presence of the guard. To think they had a time where things were getting better. Of course he should of expected this, nothing was ever easy for him._

_Now he would have to go to Waterfall and check with Undyne on the conditions there. Probably just as dusty if not worse._

_“boss?” His eyes snapped to his brother on the second floor. His eyes dropping as he watched Papyrus tiredly. His bones pale and eyes heavy. Of course what else would you expect from someone who almost died on his last patrol._

_“Go back to bed Sans.” Papyrus growled as he set their ration box on the ground. It wasn’t nearly enough food, but he would make it last. Even if it meant watered down soup for the next month. At least Sans could go it at Grillby’s for practicly free if he got hungry. Papyrus didn’t have such a privilege._

_“yeah ok.” Then he was gone into the abyss of his room again. The house felt empty._

_He exited the house locking it and then placing magic over the door again to keep intruders out.They would think twice before entering, stop to think that maybe he wasn’t as mad as he was when he scolded Sans the other day before everyone. Course maybe he should actually be at his post for once._

_Just not last time._

_Snow melted away as he reached Waterfall, checking traps and puzzles as he went. Waterfall was one of the less populated areas, next to Hotland of course. Mostly just monsters that lived in the water, the Temmies, Undyne, and that ghost. Gerson also retired here, running a hole-in-the-wall shop that he would stop in at occasion. Only when Undyne wasn’t there._

_His eyes focused as he heard shouting up ahead in the rain room. His pace picking up as he ignored the torn umbrellas and entered the room. The sight catching his attention quickly and bones went flying._

_Monsters scrambled away in a hurry, some leaking dust as they ran upon noticing the uniform. He could only scowl at their cowardice. Though he still made sure they were gone before checking the yellow lump on the ground. Stripes adoring the shirt, but no collar. An orphan then._

_He looped his arms around the child, lifting them off the ground and heading back towards Snowdin. Sans would be to weak to heal the child and would likely ask why he would bring him home. Papyrus wouldn’t have an answer, he was acting on instinct._

_More locks and he was placing the armless lizard on the couch. A quick check showing that the kid wasn’t as badly hurt as he seemed, but that didn’t change the fact that he was hurt. He would have to send the dogs after the monsters responsible, it was a capital crime to attack a child after all._

_The lump moved and he watched as they sat up and blinked. Eyes gazing around the room before landing on him, on the uniform and he froze._

_“Your safe.” Papyrus tried, something that most children never heard in their life down here. Something he could never remember hearing._

_The kid bowed his head, body quaking in fear. It made his soul hurt to see._

_“What is your name?” The kid shook his head and Papyrus could only sigh. Even if he offered the kid food he doubt he would take it out of fear of being poisoned. He knew the feeling._

_“Your part of the guard right?” The small voice caught his attentions and he looked at the child._

_“I am, I’m the captain.” He flinched slightly at the quickness of the child’s head to him, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Papyrus in… admiration._

_“Oh my stars!” His tail was suddenly going a mile a minute, Papyrus was sure he would take off from the couch. “Can you train me? I want to be apart of the guard, you guys are so bad ass!”_

_Papyrus could only stare at the excitement, at energy that was too pure for this world. At a child who still had some innocence. A rarity in a world fill of dust and violence. A reminder of too long ago._

_He breathed in a sharp breath. “Sure.”_

_0-0_

_Papyrus trudged through the snow, eyes searching the streets. Only to pause when he heard MK face plant behind him. He sighed as he does a quick check of the area before looking behind him._

_MK had already pushed himself to his feet, looking more than a bit embarrassed at his fall. Not like it was un-common, they were still working on his balance after all. You would think living his entire life without arms would give him some coordination and yet… none, at all._

_They moved on again through town, everyone they passed either cowering in fear or eyeing them up. Or more so MK then him. A child with no collar was generally seen as free EXP, something everyone seemed to want now with so few laws on the table. Basically his job was to catch human children and protect the monster ones. Along with the odd time to protect the town from the bloodlusted crazies in the woods. Not much else anymore._

_“Hey!” Papyrus whipped around at the sound, cape swirling around his feet as he did. Eyes narrowing at the sheer idiocy of the monsters before him._

_MK hung suspended in the air as he kicked and swung his tail, teeth going for the arm holding him. It was quiet unless with how short the monster was and how far away he was being held. Though that didn’t stop him and Papyrus could feel pride in that._

_Papyrus let his eyes blaze to life as he pushed himself off the ground and at the distracted attackers. MK falling to the ground as his claws dug into the monsters faces and he slammed them into the ground all in the same motion._

_“I really have to wonder how stupid monsters are getting, attacking a_ child _in the presence of the guard.” He growled, watching as the two monsters below his claws stared in fear. Each of them collared, but it was easy to tell it was by each other. He lifted them up off the ground. “A crime punishable by death.”_

_The monsters struggled at that, but not for long. His claws sunk into their skin and it only took a moment for them to turn to dust._

_He straightened and dusted his gauntlets off on the skirt of his armour. Eyes still ablaze and checking for any other monster willing to break the law for a few little EXP. None wished to meet his eyes. Good, it was better if they feared him._

_“Come.” He barked and headed back towards the house, he could hear MK following quickly. His steps carrying him much closer to Papyrus than before, using him as a shield from other monsters. That was fine for now, he wouldn’t have to do it for much longer anyway._

_They by passed the house and entered the shed. Metal covered feet carrying him to a chest of draws in the corner. Pulling and digging through draws until he found what he needed. Tossing it at the child he walked past him._

_“Put it on, and don’t take it off.” It was a split second decision really, one he won’t just do for anyone. That he couldn’t do for everyone, but Sans could mostly take care of himself and the child had grew on him. That and he was just so sick of people trying to attack the kid even with him in MK’s presence. It was maddening. Collaring him was probably the best and only option. It was the safest._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would of sooo had this up earlier if I had better internet and I didn't almost forget. On another note I Should be able to keep posting till Sunday if my inspirations continues as it is. Though I do feel like this poem lacks lustre... well it is just a memory.


	33. Like The Movies

Edge sat stiffly on the the couch that was more spring than cushion. The human fiddling around at the TV as she tried to get a movie started. She wanted to do a movie marathon. To stay up late and eat popcorn. To do it because it had been years since her last marathon and Edge couldn’t find it in himself to say no. Simply because he didn’t want to say no.

After he had trashed the house he had fallen asleep where he sat, only waking up to the human texting him about coming over again. He knew the tactic. She was just trying to distract him, or trying to make it easier for him. He appreciated it, but he wouldn’t need it for much longer. Next week he had a job and he could throw all his attention and energy into that.

“I hope you’ll like this movie, I absolutely adore it.” She wheeled over to him and watched as she some how was able to pull herself onto the couch beside him. Refusing his help in every step until she was in place. Then she pushed her chair in together and hid it on the side of the couch, throwing the blanket she usually had over her lap over it. A realization that, that was where she hid it when ever he was over in the beginning.

“What’s it about?” He questioned as she threw the blanket on the couch over herself and his legs. The fabric soft and fluffy.

“Greatness.” She added on some jazz hands to her words and he felt his jaw twitch with a possible smile. Her Green eyes dazzling with humour.

“But is it really that great?” It was huffed out more than anything, but the next thing Edge knew was that there was a hand placed over his sharp teeth as Ebony smiled widely at him.

“Shhhhh, it’s starting.” She whispered loudly while shushing him. Only for him to snort as the previews came on and not the movie, ruining her dramatics. “Okay that wasn’t suppose to happen.”

He huffed on a breath at her now deadpanned voice, her thumb mashing different buttons on the remote until the movie was actually playing before them. A popcorn bowl landing in his lap and he shifted to keep it balanced there with one hand the other going over the back of the couch.

This was nice, it was really nice. Just the two of the sitting quietly to watch a movie. No popcorn being thrown about or arguments. No fighting over movie choices and seats. Sure there was a bit of commentary, but he could live with that if it made her smile like that every time she did whisper tid-bits of info at him. He really didn’t mind this at all.

The movies the human picked we good. The first being of a young girl living through the war, the end causing Ebony to cry slightly as she pulled out her over dramatics again. The next was supposed to be a comedy that had Edge smirking only because the human was much like Rus and Stretch in humour and Ebony couldn’t stop laughing. By the third he really didn’t know. It was hard to focus on a movie when you were preoccupied with trying not to wake a body that had fallen asleep on you.

Her breathing had evened out and her hair was splayed over his shoulder. He was also fairly sure she was drooling, and he would of recoiled in disgust if he didn’t want to wake her. She needed her sleep, he knew that much. She had fallen asleep one too many times doing a puzzle for him not to notice how little she got.

Soon the credits were rolling and Edge had pulled the blanket to cover her properly, moving the empty popcorn bowl away so it didn’t go flying. He then shut the TV off, the only light coming from the oven hood light in the kitchen.

He could live with sleeping on this couch one more night if it meant one less day back at the house. If it meant a bit more time here. He could live with it. He could live with a lot for Ebony. He liked this, he liked it if this was what it meant to have a friend.

0-0

_Red, red, crimson red, everything red, everything was always red._

Edge blinked his eyes open. The room was hazy in the early morning light and played as some sort of orange tinted dream before his eyes. Dust particles catching his attention for seconds at a time, shadows flickering, old house sounds making him flinch. His arm curling around the awkwardly positioned human a little tighter in rebuke. His back ever the more straighter despite its protests and eyes sharp.

He felt like he was being watched, like a battle was playing before his eyes and he was about to be jumped. He could feel his magic trying to kickstart like an old motor, yet not a spark appeared. His muscles tensed more, back curling as he hunkered forward in an attempt to shield.

“Edge?” The voice was tired and layered in sleep, a reminder that he still had to escape his dreams.

He blinked down at Ebony as she pulled herself upright and out of his arms. Her hands working tiredly at crust build up in her eyes and a tiny yawn escaping her lips. She was so… she seemed so bright and warm despite how dark and cold the room felt.

“Hmm, oh I’m sorry I feel asleep…” Another yawn penetrated her words and causing her to try and blink awake. “I guess we’ll have to do this again some other time… Edge?”

He was silent. He felt like if he spoke everything would shatter and his dream would come true. He felt like a single noise, movement from him could cause this haze to break. Like his hands would be covered in blood again. Like he would have to shoulder more blame.

“Edge?” She touched his arm gently and he growled lowly in his chest. He was sure that with blank sockets it was a pleasant sight, especially with how she tensed. However, she didn’t relent and he was almost grateful. “Was it one of the movies?”

No, it wasn’t that. It was the blood on his hands, the blood that was tainting the room red. He heard rattling and it took a moment for him to realize that it was his own bones making that sound. Took a moment to realize that there were ams around him and he was gripping onto the back of a shirt.

“Shhh, I’m here, I’m just fine.” The human continued this as she pulled him down towards her, hands slowly petting his skull and rubbing circles into his back.

He was muttering too, muttering about blood and death. She was in his arms so much like his dream. Only there wasn’t really any blood. She was fine, she was alive, she wasn’t dead. He hadn’t killed her.

They sat for a moment, two, maybe more. He didn’t really care much, he just liked the reassurance that she was safe. He couldn’t have that reassurance with anyone else anymore, either dusted or collarless, but he could be here and make sure she was okay. Make sure his friend was okay, even when his dreams tried to convince him otherwise, because really he wasn’t okay. He could admit that now, deep down he could admit it before, now he just has to admit it aloud.

“Why don’t I get some tea and we can-,” her words were cut off by him pulling her into his lap. “or we can just sit here some more.”

She was in his arms and safe, and she could stay that way for as long as he needed. He knew she would, just like his brother would in the Underground when his magic was low after a bad fight or after one of Edge’s harsher scoldings with him. It didn’t happen often, usually when the other was too drunk or tired to remember and that had been just fine with him. This on the other hand felt welcoming, even if it made him feel like a needy child. He deserved to be one once in his life.

“Take all the time you need, and when that time is up you’ll be okay, because thats just how life works.”

He pulled her in tighter. Took in her comfort and her soft voice. He never knew what to expect from her anymore. Not the pain in her voice, the understanding. She hurt a lot too and he didn’t think it was just because she couldn’t walk. For now he wouldn’t question it, because he couldn’t, because he needed this moment for him to wake up. The next moment would be strictly for her, because she deserved it.

Well it would have been if not for a bright text from Papyrus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One kudo away from the special and 1003 hits!! Thank you for all of everyones's support and dedication so far I can't wait to have this finished for you all!


	34. Conflict

Edge shifted before the brown door, a stack of movies in his hands. Just drop them off and leave, that was the plan. That was the plan even before he heard Red’s voice on the other side of the door. Drop them off and leave, it’s not like anyone wanted to see him really. The text from Papyrus only asked if he was still bringing the movies not if he was staying.

The door opened and Blue looked up at him, the smell of popcorn and laughter following him out. Someone must of told a pun.

“OH EDGE! YOUR FINALLY HERE, WE WERE BEGINNING TO THINK YOU WEREN’T GOING TO SHOW!” Edge winced at the loudness, at the sudden quietness from the house, and the stack of movies he could already see by the TV. Maybe he shouldn’t of come.

“Just dropping off movies.” He muttered, looking away from Blue from behind his sunglasses. Trying to shrink back into the hood he had decided to wear.

“NONSENCE! IT’S FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT, AND YOUR FAIMLY!” Edge jolted as Blue dragged him into the house and before the other skeletons. All of them staring at him except for Red who was looking away.

Surprisingly enough Stretch was here, temporarily back or fully he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t plan to stay long enough to find out. Then Rus was there, but no sign of Raz. A rare sight, but Raz was probably at home and Rus probably only here on a strict favour.

“OH! LET ME TAKE THOSE, YOU SIT DOWN AND GET COMFORTABLE!” Blue set the movies with the others and rushed off to the kitchen to join Papyrus with the snack making.

It was a tense few moments of him just standing there and them just staring before Stretch snorted. “please don’t tell me your getting into that fad of wearing sunglasses inside, or at night.”

Edge shifted before sighing. He use to always show his injuries with pride. A way of showing look what happened, I survived. Now it just felt like an unneeded weight. It was unavoidablythrough, they would see at some point.

He closed his eyes as he pulled off the shades and pulled back his hood. Blinking them open the next moment to stare at the suddenly tense skeletons. Yeah Red wasn’t hurt, but he sure was.

He jerked back when Stretch suddenly appeared before him, eyes serious as he grabbed Edge’s chin and his hand glowed green with magic. He felt it in his cracks, trying to mend, but only sending a jolt of pain through his skull. He teared away from the grip, away from the healing. The pain probably would have eased within another moment, but he just really couldn’t stand it right now.

“Don’t.” He growled and took a step back from Stretch. Said skeleton glaring at him, toothpick cracking between his teeth.

“don’t what? don’t _heal you? e_ dge your eyes!” Stretch reached out again and Edge caught his wrist.

“I know perfectly well about my eyes Stretch, they just need some time.” His sight flashed to the other skeletons, to Blue and Papyrus watching warningly from the kitchen. Rus tensed where he sat and Sans looking anything but pleased. Red still looking away.

“they need healing!” They did, but he didn’t want it. He wanted to leave, he wanted to short cut away, but he couldn’t. None of them trusted him, and he couldn’t leave, yet.

“No.” He dropped Stretch’s hand and stepped back again, out of the skeleton’s reach.

“oh for the love of- at least tell us what the hell happened!” Stretch growled, pulling the broken toothpick from his teeth and stuffing it into his pocket. He was surprised they didn’t know and if they didn’t why hadn’t Red told them.

Edge’s eyes slid over to his brother, his eyes now on him. “Does it really matter?”

“does it mat- yes it matters!” Stretch’s hands flew into the air, anger streaking across his bones. “cut the prideful shit and tell us so we can get the embassy on their ass!”

Edge watched Stretch huff, watched Rus stand, the two rays of sunshine fully enter the room. He felt cornered, trapped. He was sure his eyes would have shrunk if they were there. Maybe if he tried hard enough he could teleport.

“bet he doesn’t want ta say.” All eyes turned to Red, who’s eyes narrowed on Edge. “cause it’s his own fault.”

No, it wasn’t he didn’t crack his own skull. He didn’t, he didn’t, he did start the argument. He didn’t walk away to calm down first. He raised his hands. No, Red hit him. That wasn’t his fault… Red doesn’t lie to him.

Red stood to his feet staring down Edge with those red eyes of his. Ones that Edge still couldn’t match. “bet he just doesn’t want another strike on his ever full record.”

“red.” Attention now on Sans, of course with the voice he just used Edge was sure he could get all of humanities attention. Edge has come to hate that tone. It almost promised death. “why _does_ edge have another crack in his skull?”

Red’s smirk slowly fell from his face as his eyes flashed to Sans. Sweat beginning to bead on his skull at the question. He didn’t want to answer. Hypocrite thats what that was.

“why tha ‘ell should i know? it’s his skull.” Red looked away and Edge noticed the shift of everyone’s attention. Off of him. Good he needed a moment to breath, maybe run.

“ _he’s_ _your_ _brother_.” Rus gawked. Of course Edge knew why it would seem like such a surprise, everyone did. Sanses always knew what was going on with their brother, they loved them so much they would kill for them. So why not Red? Even Rus would kill for Raz and those two had the weirdest relationship.

Edge watched as a strike of anger ran over Red’s skull, his finger pointing up directly at him. “him? no, he’s no brother of mine, that asshole lost tha privilege.”

Hearing it again was like a truck to the soul. Like a week ago happened all over again and anything he was feeling a moment before just turned to a hollow type of felling. It wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t a mistake. Red was really gone from him.

“i don’t know what tha hell happened ta his skull, but what ever it was, he fuckin’ deserved it.” Edge was suddenly hauling him off the ground by his throat at those word, grip tight enough to bruise but not suffocate. He never had the intent too, never.

Red let a smile slip to his face as Edge watched sparks fly from his hands, his eyes pounding when magic couldn’t be released. He heard shouts of panic from the others, but his magic was to cut throat for them to get close.

“goin’ back ta old ways huh?” Red snarked quietly so only he could hear, eyes narrowed. “i knew i didn’t raise a coward.”

“Red.” Edge growled dangerously, fingers twitching as if to break Red’s neck, but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t be the monster Red thought he was. “ _You piece of shit.”_

“even if i am, it’s no reason ta get ‘ostile.” Red shrugged, smirk ever present. It taunted Edge, he hated that smile. Hated it to the very brick of time and back.

“Like you don’t have _anything_ to say about that.” Edge growled lowly causing Red to frown. That little rat knew a good act if he was faking this well for this long. “Or did you forget?”

They stared for one battered breath, two, and then Edge pushed Red harshly into the floor. Before he could righten himself Edge was out the door, slamming it hard enough for the paintings on the walls to shake and a ringing to appear in his head. No he wasn’t turning back, he wasn’t explaining. Red wanted nothing to do with him, that was clear enough. The other skeletons worried, undeserved. His head hurt and he needed a smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I was feeling really inspired so I wrote like five chapters today and replotted the last 25ish chapters of this. So in other words another up spree with the special chapter posted this Sunday! Enjoy.


	35. Cleaning Help

The broken chair leg landed in the pile in the corner, soon joined by a piece of table and a cushion cover. There was so much to do, so much to pick up. There were week old dishes, laundry, a pieces of just about everything on the floor. There was so much to do and he used to love doing it, but now it just seemed like a bother. He almost understood why the others could be so lazy.

He could say he wasn’t fully lazy though he just worked twelve hours and now was attempting to clean up his mess. Wasn’t like he was getting any sleep tonight, again. He’d done this before, used up way more magic before then stayed up for a week. Monsters weren’t like humans in that way, they didn’t need sleep to stay sane. All monsters need was magic and food to sustain their magic. Sleep was only good for HP and some cognition functions. Honestly he probably needed sleep, he just didn’t want to. That and the only place he could was Red’s room and that was a hard no right now. Had been since the first time. Would likely continue to be that way too.

Edge chucked another leg at the corner, only to stare when Stretch appeared and was suddenly dodging said leg.

“well, wasn’t expecting that kind of welcome.” Edge watched as Stretch stared at the leg and the glanced around the room with a low whistle. Eye lights shrinking when they landed on Edge himself. “you need some help?”

Edge took a moment to process that and was glad to realize Stretch only meant help with the cleaning. That was a shock on its own, but Edge honestly didn’t have the will to turn him down at the moment or question it.

“Sure.” He picked up another leg and it joined the corner with the others. Stretch went into the kitchen and began to deal with the dish pile that had accumulated and started to hum lowly. Briefly Edge recognized it as a pop song he might have heard on the radio once or twice and choose not to question Stretch’s current choice in music. He felt it would be better not to point it out.

It wasn’t long before Stretch spoke again. “i know what ever happened wasn’t your fault.” Quite ever so quiet that voice. Edge appreciated it for what it was and sent Stretch a cautious glance. “we even questioned red once you left, which was pretty futile since he dodged out halfway through.”

Likely halfway being about thirty seconds in with Red. If he saw an opening he would take it. Even more so when he thought he was in trouble. It always caused problems before, and it was causing problems now.

“i noticed the collar, or rather lack of.” Even quieter yet, so low Edge almost missed it. “you and rus always said collars were big deals from where you lived, ah, rus said he basically disowned you.”

“Yes.” Simple, agreeing, answered. He really didn’t feel like saying much else on the matter and wouldn’t even if you pulled out all his teeth.

Silence again. Well aside from the clink of dishes and the odd thump of a piece of wood joining the pile in the corner. It wasn’t until the work was done that either of them bothered to speak again. Either of them being Stretch.

“just tell me one thing edge.” Stretch caught his eyes as he shuffled back into the living room, his crocks squeaking with every step. “was it a human?”

Edge watched him for a moment, gaged the possibility of actually getting away with lying to Stretch. It was slim chances, and even if he could what difference did it really make in the end. “No it wasn’t a human.”

Stretch nodded as if that confirmed something for him, eyes glancing over to the clock and then back on Edge himself. “welp i have to go, i got a flight taking off about half an hour ago and i have been avoiding it long enough.” Stretch stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets before shifting on his feet. “and edge, if you need anything just call i’m only ever a shortcut away.”

To tighten his point Stretch was gone with a blip of magic in the next second and Edge was alone again. To the truest definition of the word, but then again not quite. He still had Ebony, and now apparently Stretch, and if he had Stretch he likely had Rus just as well. He would say Blue and Papyrus too, but they would be there for anyone really, so he wasn’t counting that.

He could be content with three for now though, despite having everyone else against him. Three was a good number in his eyes despite starting with one. Despite having three at one point then one again. Then at having all the skeletons and now he was at three again. Perhaps he with have more again at some point, maybe he’ll eventually be at one again, but for now three was fine. It made the emptiness a bit less lonely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the past day I have written 9 chapters including the one from yesterday. 9! If my good mood continues as it does this might be done with in the next few weeks instead of months. 
> 
> Also! Any questions for the characters will be answered in the comments, or if I get enough of them, at the end of the special I'm posting on Sunday for the 50+ kudos mile mark!


	36. Games

The email came during another one of Ebony’s impromptu movie nights. Of course Edge would have left it alone if it hadn’t been the alert that notified him of messages from the king. Of course he hadn’t picked it like all his other ringtones, but the trumpets that played were slightly amusing especially with the current movie on the screen.

_Howdy Edge,_

_I am messaging to inquire about the up and coming Monster Games this fall. In past years you had participated and I would like to know if you plan to participate this year as well and if so what games would you like to participate in? Do not worry about getting back to me right away, there is much time before the games -_

The Monster Games, much like the human’s Olympics only it happens every year in fall. It was to celebrate the arrival of monsters on the surface, while humans get to understand monsters better by being taught the importance of encounters and monster magic. It was a big event in Ebott and Edge had participated every year in the encounters portions since it was the only thing he really did understand of the culture in this universe.

“What’s that about?” Honestly he wasn’t even upset over Ebony’s curiosity, it was plausible with how long he had been staring at his phone and not the movie as well as the trumpets. How he was to answer was a different matter entirely.

“I have been invited to participate in this years Monster Games.” Was about the simplest answer he could come up with. Also the truest.

“Are you going to go?” Such a simple question with a not so simple answer.

“I don’t know.” He honestly didn’t, not only would he have to begin training now, he had to work. There was also the fact that he didn’t know if he would even be able to use magic properly with his eyes the way they were, much less his skull. Then his current... condition. It just didn’t seem likely.

The human hummed as she pulled herself a bit straighter and stared at the movie screen. A rebel was currently fighting off a bunch of demons to reach his bride. “Well the Monster Games aren’t till October right? So why don’t you give it some time and decide later, say after my surgery?”

“O-surgery?” All thoughts of even joining the games vanished with that one word, confusion and worry setting in soon after.

“Yep, the doctors phoned said they could get me in within the month, Edge I… I might be getting my legs back.” Her hands were suddenly in his, her smile bright as can be. Her happiness was almost contagious if not for the one word setting his mind on its head, ‘might.’

It pained him to think that she had been told yes over and over only to be told no soon after. She had so much hope, but she still feared the fact that it could be taken away once again. Perhaps she didn’t quite understand how well monster magic worked, or she did and she still didn’t believe it would help her.

“Speaking of which, I’ll need a house sitter even though I got the best security around, I don’t like it being empty for so long.” Her green eyes called him to focus on her, on the hands still in his. “You up for the job, oh mighty Edge?”

“Yes.” An answer quick and short, because not only could he be out of the house, but he could be doing something for her. Even though he has saved her life, he still felt he owed her for just being his friend. His first friend after Undyne who wasn’t an alternate version of himself. That was worth more than anyone could ever know especially right now.

“Great, oh! When you have time again we should do a bunch of fun stuff while I’m still in this thing!” The movie was suddenly ignored as she began to babble of races, and moving fast enough it felt like flying, of Edge possibly teacher her how to drive since she never got the chance.

“Oh it’s been forever since I even thought of driving, after-.”She cut herself off, eyes turning glossy for just a moment before she was looking at him again with a slightly sadder look. “I suppose I never did tell you how I lost my legs, and you were polite enough to never ask.”

“You don’t have to.” She didn’t make him talk about his scars, he wouldn’t make her talk of this. Even more so with how it pained her so much, those eyes never seemed to lie to him. That and he speculated enough to make up for it, especially after that little bit of information.

“I want to, there’s a difference.” He huffed lightly at that, at the way she so easily talked back to him. Easy banter that was welcoming. “I… I _had_ two brothers, Danny was the oldest, he’s the lawyer, and then there was Lucas, and then me, Lucas was actually the one to bust up that bike, went flying right over his handle bars and into a ravine, cut his leg open and then walked home, the idiot.”

She chuckled dryly before falling silent. Her eyes falling to her lap, and her hands clenched over her legs. In a split decision, Edge put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. An adjustment of the blankets and she was fisting at his shirt.

“It was raining that night, huge bolts of thunder and lightening, we were all heading out of state for a bike derby that Lucas was participating in…” She shuddered, and then hissed out a breath. “Death on impact they said, Lucas, Mom, Dad… I was in a month long coma and when I woke up everything was gone and I had inherited my grandmother’s house, Danny became isolated because he got some shrapnel and couldn’t face me for years because I had it worse, survivors guilt I think… I just remember how calming the rain was”

She ducked into him a little more and he stared forward at the wall across from him, at the credits on the TV and the darkness. His hand tightened on her ever so slightly. “I hurt my eye protecting my brother.” She started and looked up at him with wide eyes, mouth opening only too close as he refused to meet her eyes and continued to speak. “I was protecting him... from myself, my LV had acted up and I became… a monster, Red tried to stop me and I… his HP went down… I clawed out my own eye to wake myself up, and then put any magic I had left into keeping him from dusting, he doesn’t remember much just me grabbing at my face and there being blood.”

She bowed her head down again, her body a warm heat against him. They just sat in the darkness, mulling over each other’s stories and keeping to each other’s comfort. To find comfort in each other.

“Ya know, you seem real duchy at first, but Edge?” Her eyes caught his and he had to catch his breath before it could leave them, for her eyes seemed to be glowering. Such an earthly green that he would give an arm to keep that look there. “Your the most caring being I ever met.”

Maybe he didn’t need to give up an arm, maybe just a smile or two. That was something he was more than willing to give to keep _that_ look in _those_ eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two more days of upspree for sure and then I gotta see if I like where my brain went for the next few chapters, cause if I do I got to do some replotlineing again.


	37. Darker Yet Darker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long awaited Red POV. Also drunk Red is a reasonable Red somehow.

Red really wasn’t feeling it right now. What wasn’t he feeling? Everything. Rus and Stretch weren’t talking to him, and Sans seemed to know something he didn’t. Something that was pissing Sans off more everyday that passed that Red did nothing about it. Of course he would have to know what he did in order to do anything about it and he really didn’t know. He also really didn’t like that he didn’t know.

It had been at least a week since the whole movie night nightmare, and ever since everyone has been strange. Papyrus was a lot less cheerful towards him and he could practicly feel the disappointment radiating off him. He hadn’t seen Blue or the Swapfell brothers since, and Sans, Sans had been a bit more than distant, which was saying something when he was staying in their guest room.

All because of something he didn’t know about.

Sure he got into an argument with Edge, threw his collar in his face and walked out. Yeah maybe that’s why the Swapfells weren’t talking to him, but the others. They didn’t know about collar rules and brothers get into fights all the time. You’d think he had killed Edge with how they were acting.

Which he didn’t! He just hurt his feeling, walked all over his pride, and spit on his honour.

Okay maybe he was in the wrong. Especially when Edge had been right, he had covered for a lot of Red’s slip ups and mistakes. He could also say that level of anger and grudge was unneeded, but he wasn’t going to take anything back. Not a chance in hell.

Edge had been an ass for years. Yeah sure he made Red stay home once and awhile when he was too tired, and he protected him with the collar, but it was different now and he was still an ass. Bossing him around and raising his hand at him! Getting mad when they could of had a civil conversation. Edge only knew violence and that was that, he had the scars to prove it.

“red?” Said skeleton looked up at Sans, seeing the bags under tired eyes and that lazy grin that never left. At least he wasn’t using the voice again.

“‘at?” Oh yes he was butt assed drunk right now, wasn’t that always lovely when someone wanted to have a serious conversation with you.

Sans rolled his eyes and teleported over, pushing Red over on the bed and sitting down beside him. His eyes staring at his interlocked hands, but not at Red himself. Though he was surprised Sans even wanted to see him, not with that hair-line fracture in his skull. Not with him mad at him for something he didn’t know he did.

“tell me, do you know what happened to edge?” This again? Same pony show every single time was it? Well he was a one trick pony too.

“nope.” He fell back onto the mattress, they whole thing bobbing like you would think a cloud might. So much better than his own bed, some piece of crap he insisted on getting for some stupid reason. Why he wanted it he wasn’t sure, but he sure wanted this bed, bed frame and all.

“really?” Sans was looking at him in disbelief, but he was looking at him and that was something. He was looking at Red again. “you don’t remember doing that to his skull?”

Red was suddenly sitting again and pointing at himself. “ya think i did ‘at?” A course wheezy laugh suddenly left him. Oh wasn’t that just grand they all thought he did that to Edge, thought he could hurt his baby bro- No he wasn’t his brother. He wasn’t anything to him.

“edge suggested it heavily.” Red’s mirth was cut off sharply by anger and now he was standing.

“‘ere he goes again, blamin’ me for ‘is problems!” His arms flew into the air before grasping at an empty neck. His hand falling away again. “can’t ev’n put tha blame on tha propar person!”

“he wasn’t lying red.” Once again Red’s emotions were flipped, were left to flip and flop like a dying fish. No he wasn’t, but Red hadn’t either. “i think you should try and figure it out red because your _hurting_ him now either way and _you_ are hurting red… just try to remember because i can’t get anything out of edge.”

Then Sans was gone and he was alone. Heh, remember what? A meaningless fight? Of Edge’s cracked skull? The sounds of bone breaking, marrow? That wasn’t going to happen because there was nothing to remember. They yelled, he chucked his collar and he left simple as that… but why was Edge on the floor when he did? He honestly couldn’t recall why. Just the red, the red, red, red that always seemed to coat his vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all still hate Red?
> 
> A bit of a run down just incase though. Red doesn't remember Edge being hurt physically. He only remembers that he hurt him with words nothing else. There will be more on this in later chapters.


	38. 50+ Kudos Special!!!!!

**_This is not canon to the plot (maybe), just some fluffy stuff for all you wonderful people._ **

Edge rolled over, arm swinging and pulling blankets with as he searched for the other occupant of the house. Though he wasn’t even surprised to find the bed sheets empty and cold. Most mornings he woke up in such a state, alone, still tired, and wondering where the hell _his_ human was at this time and why they weren’t sill in bed.

Shifting up into a sitting potion he glanced around the room with his good eye, the dim lighting barely affecting his site. As such, just from a glance he knew she was still in her pyjamas and hadn’t left the house. Two factors that made his plan look slightly more in his favour.

Slipping out from under the sheets, he padded across the chilled floor and into the hall. The library door was slightly jammed across the hall so he decided it would be a great place to start looking. Of course it meant the chances of a book-alanch, but he would take those chances today. He would always take those chances for this human.

The room was cluttered and full of ever growing book piles as always, but his focus was on theglass doors tucked away in the back corner of the room. The only doors that lead to the balcony and the place that Ebony liked to disappear too.

In other words it wasn’t much of a surprise to find her leaning over the banister and up at the brightening sky. Little slips of colour were soaking into the clouds and inky blackness that was the sky, but he much rather watch as those colours reflected off _his wife’s_ eyes.

His arms looped around her waist and lifted her off her feet. Her whole body squirming as she squealed quietly and tried to unsuccessfully break his grip. The whole time he held firm, falling back into one of the lounge chairs, and locking Ebony within his arms by simply looping his legs over her’s and placing his chin on her head.

“Edge! I’m try to watch the sunrise.” A quiet wine, quiet after many days of practice and early morning headaches. He loved her ever more for noticing his discomfort at loud noises in the morning without him evening having to say. Loved her for noticing so many things without him having to say.

“And you can, from right here.” His own voice was quiet in a low gruff tone. He was still tired and it was showing in his voice. Though Ebony didn’t question it and just settled into his grip more, both of their eyes on the sky.

They stayed silent as the sun slowly rose above the houses and the trees. They stayed still as the sky filled with colours of heat and love. They shivered as the cold morning air bit at their toes and chased them back inside.

“You don’t have to carry me.” Ebony grouched, but didn’t make much more fuss of getting out of his arms as he carried her back to their room. 

“I want to, there’s a difference.” He smirked as she stuck her tongue out at him, only to yelp as he tossed her into the fluffy sheets and crawled in after her. His arms looping around her and pulling her to his chest. “Sleep.”

“‘m not tired.” She whispered, eyes bright with energy as she spoke.

“To bad, I’m not letting go until my alarm goes.” She shifted only minimally before she snuggled into him and settled down.

“Ten minutes before?” She tried, those tempting green eyes on him once again.

“No.” She huffed slightly and rested her forehead on his clavicle, her fingers tapping against his ribs till he placed his chin on her head again.

This was what he never expected for himself. Never dreamed possible in the life he had before. But now he couldn’t think of anything else than having her breath turning easy and her soul thrumming in beat with his own.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**_Darling__Angel has requested we see Toriel enact havoc on Red, but I wasn’t sure if I should make it serious or funny so we get one that’s kinda both. Might make a three panel funny comic too on this if I find the time. I hope I did your request some justice with my weird writing style._** **_THIS IS NOT CANON TO THE PLOT LINE!_**

Stretch sat back as he watched Toriel approaching Red, her sleeves rolled up and anger practically radiating off the Queen of all monster. Red himself looking quite nervous as he realized just who was standing behind him and the intent that Stretch could feel from across the yard.

Oh this would be good.

“I am severely disappointed in you Red! Not only have I been told you have harmed Edge in some way or another you haven’t even apologized!” Toriel hefted Red up by the front of his jacket like he was a bag of flour, the usually cocky skeleton suddenly more than a little nervous about the glare he was receiving. “To family yet, the very thought makes me want to-!”

Red swung as Toriel turned before she swung her arms up and Red went flying. His body windmilling through the air quickly until he was a tiny speck in the sky. She looked up, as she shielded her eyes from the sun before dusting off her gowns as Stretch shouted over at her.

“knocked him right outta the park tors!” She sent him a polite smile that only seemed to grow as they heard Red screaming as he plummeted back towards the Earth. 

Toriel simply held out her hands and Red landed right back in them, her smile turning sharp. “Don’t think that’s all your getting.”

Stretch didn’t know that Toriel knew how to bitch slap that well. Or that she would smack around a person that much. Oh man he really didn’t want to upset Toriel if that was to happen. It most defiantly wasn’t as bad as anything Edge would have done. Edge would of broken bones if he hated a person enough, but Toriel wasn’t one to fatally harm a person. Well, Edge wouldn’t fatally harm his brother either no matter how much he deserved a swift kick to the balls… much like that. Then a punch right to the top of Red’s skull and he was out for the count.

Red dropped to the ground and laid there as Toriel dusted off her hands and came back over with a smile. “Who wants pie? I have one in the oven.”

“me.” She smiled at him and left him to approach Red. Said skeleton was groaning on the ground without a single HP shaved off his bar. Though that didn’t say much about the condition of his bones. Bruised, scraped, and battered and all Stretch could think was that he fucking deserved it.

Man he was getting a mean streak. Guess that started when he told Toriel about what Red did. Might even continue if Red continued to be an asshole. So probably.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

**_Now finally I want to give a big shout out to everyone who has kudoed, commented, bookmarked, read, or even given my fanfic a fleeting glance and has continued to stick with it this long. I really haven’t had good luck with writing in the past so it means a lot to me to see this much support coming from everyone. As I always tell myself, even if one person is reading it I will continue to write because that means it means something to someone and I’m not going to take that away from them. So thank you everyone and I hope to continue to see you in chapters to come!_ **

**_If you have any future scene requests just comment it, and it can be in the next special. Which will be at 100 kudos or when I finish the story which ever comes first. :)_ **


	39. Meeting

Ebony practically buzzed with nerves, so many nerves. Even the rain just outside the window didn’t calm her any. The Embassy was an imposing building full of imposing people and the looks she got did little to reassure her nerves. Though most of them were for Edge who was currently speaking with an agent over a summons about an accident that happened before the fight.

She hadn’t known about it until Edge had scowled at his phone for over ten minutes on their coffee run yesterday. Though she insisted to go with him as the situation seemed less than ideal and she really didn’t understand what Edge could possibly have done to deserve a summons. She had known him to only do good despite his rough background and asshole front. He had a good soul, and she wanted to be there to back him up.

“HUMAN!” Ebony startled and sat straight, her eyes flashing to the cheerful skeleton bounding over to her. She recognized him as Blue from the puzzle club him and Papyrus held way back when, his casual clothes exchanges for a blue pinstriped suit and tie. Even when dressed as a busy body he still only held a cheerful energy that was unmatched by even puppies.

“Oh hello Blue.” His smile only seemed to grow bigger and he was now sitting across from her, briefcase at his feet.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE HUMAN? ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS WITH ANY MONSTERS IF SO I, THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE, CAN HELP YOU!” Oh, oh dear, his eyes were stars, literal stars and she stumbled over he words because of it.

“Oh, ah not me, well I’m here for Edge actually, they umm, they summoned him… again?” Trying to word that was strange because she still didn’t understand why he was summoned, much less the fact he had used the word again and that would mean it had happened multiple times.

Ebony watched as Blue’s happy demeanour suddenly disappeared along with the starry eye’d look he was handing out. It was almost unnerving to see a seemingly always happy skeleton do a one eighty like that. Even more so when he was suddenly standing and marching towards the door that Edge had disappeared behind.

“Blue, I don’t-.” The door open and closed harshly, only a sliver of someone complaints from within slipping out before it was silent once again. Well she sure didn’t know how to handle that. Nor did she know how to handle a rather tall Papyrus approaching quickly a while after in a pinstripe of his own, an orange shirt underneath.

“HUMAN!” Ebony was almost positive he would of picked her up and swung her around if she hadn’t been in a wheelchair. He seemed like just the monster to do such a thing. Though she was honestly glad he didn’t and wasn’t able to. “I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO TAKE YOU TO LUNCH, SINCE EDGE AND BLUE WILL BE A WHILE AND THAT IT WILL BE GETTING QUITE CROWDED OVER HERE.”

Papyrus didn’t even give her a chance to reply, just took the handles of her wheelchair and began to push. She only had a tiny thought of wondering if this was considered kidnapping, because the entirety of her thought process was what was about to happen with Edge, and if it was anything that it was nothing bad.

0-0

Lunch hand been great. The Embassy’s cafeteria was maned by a number of talented chefs that Papyrus had introduced her too. He also introduced her to the janitor and the guys from the Monster Rights Board, and the people from Human Relations, and so many other people. Every single one he addressed by name, or ‘human’ and then name which she had to peg down to being a verbal tic much like Edge use to do with her. She guessed it could just be a monster thing as well if that was the case.

It had been a good hour before they had the chance to eat regardless and then through out the food portion Papyrus had filled the conversation with cheery talk of puzzles and work and anything else he could possibly think of. It was nice.

“SO YOU AND EDGY ME ARE FRIENDS, YES?” Papyrus questioned as he shovelled spaghetti into his face, some how talking even when the food was passing between his teeth. Though his choice of words was a bit odd, made her wonder if ‘edgy me’ was like a mini me. Was Papyrus older than Edge?

“I suppose you could call us that yeah.” Papyrus’s oval eyes sparkled at that, and then his whole expression turned sorta upset.

“THAT IS WONDERFUL TO HEAR HUMAN, EDGE DOES NOT MAKE FRIENDS EASY AND IT MAKES ME LESS WORRIED IN HIM TO KNOW THAT HE HAS A FRIEND AT HIS SIDE, NYEHEHE!” Papyrus’s smile became bright again as he continued. “EVEN MORE NOW THAT HIS BROTHER HAS DISOWNED HIM AND THE HUMAN RACE HAS A VENDETTA AGAINST HIM, YOUR FRIENDSHIP WILL REALLY HELP HIM IN PROVING HIS NAME!”

“Ahh… what?” Disowned? Vendetta? That was a lot of information to take in all at once and everything was kinda setting into place in her mind. Humans hated Edge for some reason. Him and his brother had a fight and Red hurt Edge and apparently disowned him. Edge was less prideful, less mean, melancholy these past weeks and it was all because he was having a really bad time.

“come on bro don’t pile that on her.” She honestly didn’t know she could screech that loud. Though she had every right to with how the newest skeleton appeared at the table, and everyone else had every right to stare at her like they did. Though they did seem to understand as soon as their eyes landed on the newest skeleton.

“SANS THAT WAS VERY INAPPROPRIATE, YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL YOU SHOULD NEVER DO THAT TO SOMEONE WHO ISN’T USE TO YOUR JAPES!” Said skeleton just smiled wider, bones crinkling around his grey lined eyes, the same eyes that never left her.

“tibia honest with ya there paps, it’s fine and they need you up top, it’s a heated argument, i’m sure they might bring asgore down, maybe tori if it gets bad enough.” Sans sent his brother the side eye before he was suddenly bounding out the door and it was only her and him now.

“So, ah, you must be Sans?” Ebony offered her hand to him and he took it with a smile, a fart sounding out. Her blush intensifying the longer it went on.

“heh, the ol’ whoopee cushion in the hand trick.” Sans pulled his hand away revealing the pink ballon in his hand, it soon disappearing into a pocket along with the hand it was attached too.

She suddenly shivered hard as his eyes raked over her, like she was being watched from every angle at once. Though when the feeling passed, Sans looked much more relaxed and she felt like she had nothing to hide from him. It was an almost reassuring feeling.

“sorry about all this distracting, edge wouldn’t have messaged paps to come get you if he didn’t care at least a little and well with what’s going on up there i might be bring you home yet.” Sans smiled as a Whismum dropped a ketchup bottle at the table and the proceeded to down half the bottle right in front of her.

“Is it really that bad what he did?” Now she was worried, worried about Edge and what could possibly be going on.

Sans was looking down as he spoke, picking at the top of his ketchup bottle with a skinny finger bone. “that’s the problem, he didn’t do anything and yet the humans are still trying to call for a grand judging… heh and if that happens edge’s record will be little more than a pile of dust.”

The horror dawned on her quickly, the horror of the fact that the humans want Edge to be killed for absolutely no reason. They wanted Edge dead and she hadn’t known. Here she was trying to help him with his problems with his brother when this was going on.

“Can I do anything?”

“… yeah, be there for him, because he sure as hell won’t let anyone else near.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Upspree might last two more days, it could last a whole week, it really depends on if I can write two chapters. Also you might want to know where the fluffy stuff is, I'm about to take this story somewhere even I hadn't had planed.


	40. The Situation Escalates

All Edge could say was that this could certainly be going better.

Blue had entered the room some time ago and was arguing with the human across the desk. Then some other embassy officials showed up. Papyrus came last and tried to diffuse all the anger which wasn’t really helping and the tiny room was far to crowded.

He heard multitudes of words being thrown around by every person in the room. Some good, some bad. Court, revaluation, judging, treaty, LV, misjudged, etc. Though he couldn’t particularly understand why he had to sit through all this and couldn’t just wait out in the hall. Well he was sure he would hear it there too, but he just really didn’t want to be in this particular spot right now. Right between Blue and the cause of this nightmare.

“YOU CAN’T GO ACCUSING HIM OF THINGS HE NEVER DID!”

“There is evidence proving that he did it!”

“WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO A PROPER TRAIL? YOU GIVE OTHER MONSTERS ONE!”

“It’s unneeded with this much evidence and for the fact that he-“

“What is the meaning of this!?” Sweet silence filled the room, and Edge didn’t even have to glance back to know that Asgore had arrived. Of course Papyrus and Blue were the only ones willing enough to answer. Even he didn’t particularly feel like talking.

“OH YOUR MAJESTY WELCOME, THERE HAS JUST BEEN A SLIGHT ARGUMENT STARTED OVER THE STATE OF EDGE’S RECORD AND THE FACT THEY WANT TO ADD MORE TO IT.” Papyrus gave his award winning smile to the King before the human cut in again.

“He amidted to everything we want to add, and quite frankly sir we gave him more than enough chances.” Ever the diplomat that one.

“Hand me his file.” Asgore’s paw reached over his head and a file was quite reluctantly placed within the huge paw. Both drawing back and the sound of pages being flipped, while the air seemed to grow tenser with every moment. “Sam was it? It is true this record is quite full, but most of these infringements written here are quite untrue, much like this new one you added, the attacking of a human civilian, if I’m not mistaken that was actually Red, please do not try to interrupt, and many of this are small things that everyone does and are not written down on, so either you are being very unfair to Edge or something else is going on.”

More silence and Edge just wanted to duck down into nonexistence. It would be way better than feeling that look on the back of his skull. He could remember that look on the same face just different,= just before it dusted a monster and he didn’t even have to look at it to know it was there. Just like the silent question that hung in the air.

“I have given up on trying to argue, it goes down regardless of what I say.” He ducked his head and it was a moment before there was a large paw on his shoulder. He didn’t fight, lost the energy to within the first three seconds of being in this room.

“It would seem like my friend he is being treated poorly based on his arrival here.” Asgore then drew in a heavy sigh and squeezed Edge’s shoulder. "This matter shall be discussed and acted upon to clear up any disagreements." 

“Through a matter of this scale your Majesty, this sort of a dispute must be sorted through two trails, a human one, and a monster one.” Sam looked Edge dead in the eye as he spoke, a deep seated hatred behind those eyes. One that was all to familiar to Edge.

And wasn’t that the kicker. The humans were going to get what they wanted, and he would be dust. 

0-0

The truck was silent at he drove, Rus sitting stoically in the seat beside him. Part of the agreement being that he had a twenty four hour watch on him and he was kinda glad that Sans had brought Ebony home. It was late enough as it was and the text he had sent her was sure to only remove very few of any worries this had caused.

He would go and see here tomorrow and then head up to the Embassy for papers and meeting with lawyers. It was all a cluster fuck of shit he really didn’t need right now. Well he supposed if he had anything to get done he should do them now, his death date was scheduled in three days. Three days left to live, guess he couldn’t house sit now.

They pulled into the drive and headed into the house without a word. The room just as empty as when he left it, dishes piling into the sink again. He supposed it didn’t really matter that there was no place to sleep, neither of them would be doing much of that for the next few days, but he was regretting destroying the sitting arrangements.

“remodeling?” Rus questioned despite knowing fully well Edge didn’t have the money to remodel anything. Even the vehicles were old pieces of junk they got handed and Red somehow fixed up. All their money had come and went into the business.

“no.” He headed to the kitchen and pulled some leftovers out of the fridge. It had been a long day, one of which both dinner and supper was skipped. He use to be able to handle that, but his magic gave a familiar lurch at the thought of not eating.

Rus hopped up to sit on the counter, feet dangling, and Edge didn’t even bark at him to get down just passed him a bottle of his favourite drink. He was lucky there was still some left.

“so… you don’t got much time now.” Well wasn’t it different to hear that out load. To hear your going to die soon, and he was. There was no escaping a bad judging with a LV as high as his and Rus would know that well, being a retired Judge himself.

“Yeah.” He didn’t have much time and there were things that he wished to do in the time he did have. Call Stretch, talk with Ebony, say good bye. He had to do it before he faced Sans, there was no judge me now, dust me later. That encounter would be his last.

“want to do some drinking?” Didn’t that sound tempting, but no, he had stuff to do tomorrow and he wasn’t doing it hung over or still drunk. He wanted as clear of a head as he could get.

“Yes, but no.” Rus hummed his agreement before staring at the floor and his swinging legs. Red had done that a lot, giving him a snarky grin when ever he yelled at him to get down. They were similar in a familiar sense and now Edge was faced with his biggest question.

Would he speak to Red or vice versa? Attempt at some kind of amends so that he wasn’t going out with anyone mad at him. So that he didn’t have as much weight on his shoulders. So that maybe he still had a brother at his dying breath.

“Rus, could you look after something for me?” Said skeleton looked at him. Sure Rus was lazy, he was uncaring, and could be pretty untrusting, but he was strong and Edge could trust him with this.

Rus sat up straighter as Edge approached him and reached into his inventory. “yeah sure, whatcha need?”

Edge didn’t reply, just pulled out the collars and handed them over. Both of them disfigured in their own way, both built by his own hands, both completely empty. When he picked up Red’s he couldn’t recall, but he had them both and now Rus would look after them. He knew he would especially with how gentle he handled them with blown up eyes. How he looked up at Edge with just a bit more understandings. Yeah he could trust Rus with this.

_08979 Nkafb 780 jfbhk kjkhb_

_0002 doyh 006 honjs Uotil hksj djahb_

_2 days, 6 hours until his death._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be replying to any comments a bit later from now, I'm being pulled away to do something else and it looks like this upspree may continue for awhile.


	41. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I almost make myself cry writing this.

_2 days until his death._

Edge watched as Rus shifted on the lumpy couch, coffee in hand and all the air of wanting to leave. If it wasn’t the tense air throwing ice down his sweats it was likely the sullen look that Ebony was giving life to. The quiet, the madness, and the truth setting firm in the air.

“And you can’t do anything?” He slipped his sockets closed at the pain in her voice, trying to absorb more warmth out of his cup than physically able. He felt cold and set it aside.

“No.” Rus squirmed, fingers itching for a smoke and Edge had to think of when he had his last one. A day ago? A week? Sometime before that dreaded meeting either way. He didn’t even fill the pull of wanting another, he felt nothing.

“So your really going to die then?” He winced at the crack in her voice, at the way Rus looked down at the floor. As once again his fate was spoken aloud and the emptiness set in. “Can you-can you explain what’s about to happen?”

Silence then the clearing of a throat. Edge spoke. “Tomorrow I will be trialed on human terms, they’ll judge my innocence and what actually is supposed to be on my record, then they’ll chose weather or not I’m innocent or should be sent to jail, then the next day…” He trailed thinking of that one time he witnessed a judging, of the dust.

“sans will judge edge on monster terms.” Rus finished, golden lights searching over turned hands for something that was no longer there.

“But what will that entail? Why are you so certain it will end in death?” Her voice cracked and splintered like wood. He wanted to piece it back together, to put it back to what it once was, but he didn’t have the strength to move.

Edge and Rus shared a look, and Rus straightened. “monster trails are over seen by a specific monster known as the judge.” Rus shifted, his eyes glancing around the room but at nothing in particular. “there are different types of judging of course, ones done with simple checks which all monsters can do, but not to the extent of a judge, there’s a judging that reads a persons intents and thoughts, then theirs something we call a grand judging, which reads every last thing you ever done in your life and decides if your really worth living…”

Edge gave a nod to Rus before picking up the explanation. “Since my LV, my level of violence, is so high… it’s a reflection of all the monsters I killed, most monsters with anything above a five won’t survive one because all they’ve done is horrible acts, has bad intent, no one has survived above a seven.”

Edge could hear Ebony hiss on a breath, her body rigged as her nails dug into the arm rest of her chair. “What’s you LV?”

Edge looked away from her, couldn’t look her in the eyes as he told her just what kind of a person he was. “Fifteen.” One of the highest in his underground aside from the king and Undyne, most monsters couldn’t handle LV that high but he supposed he must just be special then.

A whimper and Ebony was in front of him, pulling his gloved hands to her. “I’m so sorry.” He blinked slightly bewildered and looked over at Rus only to find him gone. Ebony pulled the back of his hands to her eyes and his confusion softened automatically.

“What for.” He murmured, stealing her hands in his own. His thumb rubbing over the back of hers as he drew their hands to her lap. “I have made these choices of my own will, there’s nothing to be sorry for.”

She looked up at him and for once he truly looked back, not able to look her in the eye since the first weak hello. Her eyes red from whipping them too much, green glistening with unshed tears and so much pain within those pools. That look hurt him down to his soul.

“I’m sorry you had to make such choices.” The pools swam and he cracked. Feeling his whole body sag forward and his breath hitch slightly. The intent behind those words hitting him hard.

“I’m not sorry that I made them, because then I wouldn’t be here today.” His hand squeezed her’s out of reflex and it was enough to send her to tears. For her shoulders to hunch and for him to find then energy to gather her up in his arms and just hold her sobbing form to him.

No he wasn’t sorry. He wasn’t sorry he killed so many monsters in his life. Not sorry that he was alive, that Red was alive. He wasn’t sorry because without his LV he wouldn’t be here in this chair. He would be working some other job and never have met her.

He wouldn’t know her and thus he wouldn’t have been able to do puzzles with her, to watch movies. They wouldn’t of been able to go to the parks and cafes. They wouldn’t have been able to watch the lightening and rain. He wouldn’t have her as his friend and most importantly he might have fallen down without her support. She was a pillar for him, even when he refused the thought of ever needing one.

His shoulder heaved and he curled a little more around her shaking form. Not acknowledging the painful burn in his eyes. Not the way his soul thudded and hummed at the same time, nor the way his hands clenched a slightly tighter around Ebony. He didn’t acknowledge it simple because he couldn’t, couldn’t drag himself out of his own mind. Couldn’t leave his underground even as he berried his nose into her hair.

They sat for awhile longer. Until her sobs turned to quiet shivers and his shirt was un-regretfuly drenched. They stayed until his phone started buzzing and he could hear Rus talking on the phone in the kitchen.They sat until Ebony slowly pried herself off of him and he was helping her back into her chair.

They would then have to part, and he would have to leave her puffy eyed and just as tired as he was. He would have to leave and would be stuck in proceedings until late tomorrow. He might only ever get to see her once more and it would be right before his time ran out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been itching to post another chapter and it's close enough to tomorrow so here ya go. Idk why but this really hit me hard while writing this. I was tearing up and I don't really cry sooo... yeah suffer with me?


	42. The Jury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A judging done by humans

_1 day till his death_

The court room was full, both monsters and humans alike filling every inch they could find. All of that was to his back. What he had to face now was a judge and a number of lawyers. The only people at his side being Asgore and a monster lawyer that Asgore had brought in for such an occasion. His opponent a spindly armed man who was supposed to argue against him and the human side of the Embassy.

He was detached from even feeling any fear, of feeling anything currently. Even with the odds stacked, he felt nothing and let his thoughts sit in disarray because no matter what happened here today he was still going to die tomorrow.

A gavel hit against wood and the noise silenced, and court proceeded. The opposition brought in every person he might have or ever did wrong. The defence bringing anyone he helped or worked for. They slashed marks off his record, went through every possible thing he ever did including the two men he had injured in helping Ebony. The magic he had infused on them reeking bad enough that every monster in the room cringed when they were hauled in.

They called in other monsters he had interacted with, even the other skeletons, except for Sans and Red, who only had good words to share. Toriel spoke, Asgore, Sam. Then Ebony was wheeled in before the bench, her smile tight and nervous and she was questioned as well. Forced to retell her experiences with him. Him working for her, her startling him, the attack, their friendship. She never once mentioned Red or his skull.

Finally he was dragged to the stand, many of the humans cringing away from his blank, bitch faced stare. The proceeding continued.

“Tell us Mr. Fell, what happened that day you first came to the surface, the reason you attacked so many people.” The twig armed lawyer questioned, eyes beady behind thick brows.

“My LV, some may understand it better as Level Of Violence, it acted up and my actions were not my own.” Plain, a droned on answer that he had repeated for the better part of a two years.

“Yes, but why? From what I understand LV only acts up when a monster is placed under harsh emotions.” The lawyer pressed and Edge might of broken a few of his bones for a look like that back home, but he wasn’t home and he didn’t care.

“The surface was a… shock, and I wasn’t coming up from the best conditions, my home wasn’t an ideal place to live.” Another droned on answer, a half truth that he wasn’t able to complete. It was bad enough he had to think about it. His fists clenched.

“Yes that’s all in the file, but what I can’t understand is _why,_ a guard of the underground, it says here you attacked you brother on multiple occasions, that you are emotionally detached, so how could LV act up when your apparently emotionless?” The folder snapped shut as Edge narrowed his eyes, feeling anger roll underneath his bones, coursing through his marrow. He dug his fingers into his palm to divert his magic from manifesting.

“I am _not_ emotionless, I simply have better control over my feelings, as for you saying I hit my brother, I will admit that I have, but you would need to live in my old home to understand _why_ , because no matter what I say you will say it’s inexcusably, and it is unless it was hit him or he dies.” Edge sucked in a breath between his teeth, glare narrowing until he was staring through slits. “Some places in the Underground weren’t good, and it was hard to break old habits that kept us alive, I haven’t touch a bone on my brother’s body for three years now.”

“I’m sure I couldn’t understand a group of monsters of your nature, but tell me then Mr. Fell, why is your LV so high, for the records sake?”

Edge slumped back in his chair at that, eyes staring but not really seeing. Children screams were filling his ears and dust was coating his vision. He could taste blood and marrow on his teeth.

_In this world its kill or be killed._

“Papyrus!” Edge startled, eyes blinking as he looked up at Asgore, the gentle king having his hands placed firmly on the wood platform before him.

“I apologize, my LV is so high because I have killed monsters to keep my family safe, to keep others safe.” His fingers teased at his scarf, waving Asgore’s concerned look off as noise bursted forth in the room. The gavel came down. The jury shifted. Court proceeded.

0-0

“We as the jury have collectively agreed that Edge Papyrus Fell is innocent of crimes placed on human soil.” A hush whisper fell over the room and Edge slumped as everything wrapped up around him. Humans and monsters alike leaving. The jury stepping out. The other skeletons and Ebony approaching. He was so very tired.

“well at least today turned out well.” Stretch sighed, as he crossed his arms and leaned them on Blue’s head. “though you look like you could catch a few zs.”

“probably would have, but neither of us really slept, would of helped if he had any chairs.” Rus piped in, leaning tiredly on one of the chairs in the room.

“why don’t- you know what not going to ask, but why don’t you stay with us tonight then?” Asgore offered, eyes dropping as the late hours set into all of them.

“Does it really matter?” Edge sighed as he stood, legs numb from sitting so long. “I’m not going to sleep anyway, and why should it matter if I’m tired tomorrow, won’t affect the out come.”

He felt sad eyes on him, heard the pain singing off their magic. He was tired.

“Why don’t you come to my house then, I’m probably not going to sleep much either.” None of them probably would be, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he would have some where he could sit, and he would be able to spend more time with her.

“Whatever.” He trudged towards the door, bones heavy and thoughts skewed. He just wanted to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the most well written chapter despite writing it twice. Upspree will go til Sunday for sure, and then I start a class on Monday so I'm going to use the next chapters as a buffer. If I can write four more over the next couple days there shouldn't be any late chapters and should be one every Sunday unless I get distracted by an assignment. There should be one at least weekly.
> 
> Though I won't leave any of you on a cliff hanger, I'm not that cruel, but I mean i might have to be, depending on how much I have to do before the first class.


	43. Tears like the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I almost make myself cry again, maybe actual cry, because my-my baby! T^T  
> Warning: might need tissues

_12 hour till his death._

The air was crisp as they walked down the sidewalk towards the dark house. Ebony already at the grange door and unlocking it so that they could enter. Rus just behind him as he was attempting to finish his third cigarette after leaving the court house. Edge’s own hands were empty, his thought jumbled.

“Edgy!” The shrill voice in the dead of night caused both him and Rus to jump, bodies turning as a blur of a woman approached him and started to blabber. “Oh I haven’t seen you in so long! You came back to see me didn’t you?! Why else would you be in the neighbourhood with your… handsome friend?”

Deb continued as he just stared with those ever blank sockets. Not even attempting to pry her off his arm as Rus gave a sort of disgruntled look at her checking him out. He just wanted to go inside already.

“You should come over, we can talk and have a great evening!” She beamed and Ebony was at his side again.

“Deb it’s late, and it’s been a long day.” Ebony grumbled, his whole body hunched in exhaustion. Though Deb didn’t seem deterred, just curious.

“Well he could always rest as my place.” Her arms, thankfully, left him and were now crossed as she glared at Ebony. Both woman seeming to take on an air of rage.

“He doesn’t want to.” Ebony grouched, her frown deepening and green eyes blazing with gold.

“How would you know, he hasn’t even spoken.” Deb hissed now and reached for him only for Rus to step forward and block her hold.

“Because he being trialed Deb.” Ebony’s voice cracked again, those tears welling again. Even the shocked expression on Deb’s face couldn’t detain the hurt he was feeling. “The Embassy called for his judging.”

“What?! Oh that ex husband of mine, I swear he has something to do with this!” Everyone’s attentions perked as she screeched, her foot hitting the ground. “Still so mad over me divorcing him!”

Edge watched as Rus pounced on those words, his expression turning livid. “E X P L A I NN O W.”

0-0

Deb jittered on the lumpy couch, her water shaking in her hands. Of course Edge could fully understand that. Having the Judge’s voice used on you was always unsettling, have that same person stare you down with crossed arms for the next hour was even more so. Include two more sets of eyes and you have enough stress for a heart attack.

“I didn’t realize that Sam would go this far, he has always hated Edge from the very first time they met and only more after I left him.” Spilling her guts just because Rus had pulled on the old Judge boots and checked her. “He never was a fan of monsters…”

“yet he’s in the embassy.” Rus was sending emails out constantly the whole conversation. Of course when they found out that an anti-monster supporter was working in one of the main branches of the Embassy it was a great cause for Rus to inform his brother and everyone higher about it. About how this could help Edge.

Rus growled and slammed his phone beside him scowling. Eye lights blazing just a bit more strongly than normal. “no good, asgore says there’s no time for an amends, but he’s trying.”

“This sucks.” Ebony clenched he fists and glared at the floor. Her eyes dulled down to a slate colour.

All the while he is silent and does nothing. He already knew that nothing would change. He would die and he has accepted that. Been waiting for it since he was old enough to understand what it meant.

“i’m going to head over and try and help.” Rus muttered as he typed furiously on his phone, he’s eyes flashing up too Deb. “my brother wants to question you.” Deb only nodded and the two disappeared in a huff of displaced air. The room now silent.

“Ebony.” His words were quiet, so very quiet, but the room was silent too. Her head came up and she wheeled over to him, shoulders tense. He was sure in her eyes he looked defeated, like he was suddenly letting the world go and letting it press his face into the ground. His now bare hands sitting on his lap.

_A broken collar just before his eyes._

“Yeah?” Soft, sweet, he’d miss this.

He didn’t reply just reached around his neck. Worn cloth slipping through his fingers as he pulled it over his head and dropped it over hers. His promise, his protection. Everything he was, that scarf was because it had been through everything.

He felt his expression twitch with the beginning of a smile. Of her trying to flatten the cloth around her face and fix her hair so she could see. The scarf covering a good portion of her face, and hiding her flustered epression efficiently. He would miss that as well.

Her eyes then meet his again, flash of pained happiness flashing through them as an equally complicated smile graced her lips. His hands finding hers and her eyes welling with tears as he ran his once bare fingers over the back of her hands.

He leaned forward and in a moment of pure unawareness placed his teeth to her forehead before pulling back slightly. “It will be okay because it has to be.” He murmured and watched as her eyes closed, tears spilling. Flowing silently down her cheeks like falling stars.

“Okay.” She nodded as she pulled his scarf up, crying into the soft material. Each sob a painful stab to his soul. Each tear a knife. Even then he knew, knew it would be okay even with his unfair fate playing games with his life. He knew because his soul was singing to him and for once he decided to listen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I currently have internet, and I'm thinking about it, this is coming a bit earlier. And I keep adding chapters, so thismight be longer than I expected. 
> 
> I'm going to go now and be a bit choked up because for some reason this chapter hits me hard, and continues to hit me hard through editing and posting, and just plain rereading. Even the next chapter doesn't do this me damnit. T^T


	44. The Judge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you will need more tissues. T~T

The judgment hall on the surface was possibly more emasculate than anything that had been built in the Underground. Tall, towering stain glass windows, marble flooring and pilers, a throne that Sans was currently napping on in wait. They could start at anytime now, but they were waiting for some to arrive, but he doubt they would, politicians were slow and an amends would never come.

Even with all the people currently here a judgement was a private affair, mostly to stop out side interference and from others having to watch someone else die. However, the hall was open before any judgment took place to discus and say any possible good byes or pieces. Which wasn’t happening because everyone knew the out come and no one wanted to acknowledge it. Not the King and Queen or the other Skeletons, not the human diplomats that came, not Ebony, not even he wanted to.

“Couldn’t we just-“ Blue cut off his own tiny voice at Asgore’s head shaking. They couldn’t do much of anything, any argument that couldn’t be solved had to be handled in the way of both parties and failure to comply was as good as burning the treaty to pieces. Edge could die to stop another war even if this piece of the treaty was added only because they didn’t think they wound need it. Only there to pacify the humans. Even with the possibility of an amends.

“I think I’m ready.” Everyone looked at him then and Asgore nodded slowly ushering a crying Toriel and the diplomats out. Leaving him to say good bye to his ~~sorta~~ family.

“WE WILL MISS YOU GREATLY EDGY ME! YOUR COMPANY IN THE PUZZLE CLUB AND DURING COOKING HOURS WILL BE GREATLY MISSED!” Papyrus sobbed as Blue patted his back the best he could while offering him tissues.

“YES, AND DON’T FORGET ALL THE WITTY JAPES AND THE LASAGNA, THE FABULOUS PUZZLE ADVICE!” Then there went Blue’s water works in which Stretch tried to comfort him with a hug.

“we’ll miss you more than you know ed- papyrus.” Stretch nodded before dragging the two out of the room, heads hanging. He would miss all those things as well, but it was nice to hear his name a final time.

“I SHOULD THROTTLE WHO DID THIS EDGE, BUT IT WOULD ONLY END IN MORE DUST, SO ALL I CAN SAY IT THAT I WISH IT DIDN’T TURN OUT THIS WAY!” Raz was then gone and now Rus was backing up towards the door.

“i’ll keep those safe for you and… i’m sorry.” Gone as well, everyone gone but him, Sans, and Ebony.

“You don’t have to do this do you?” Ebony spoke as she picked at the red of his scarf. Her eyes were puffy with tears and the way her voice cracked told him she had been crying again.

“I’m sorry.” He looked down and then back at Sans who was now standing with his hands in his pockets. “It will be alright.”

“It won’t!” She bit out glaring at the ground in spite. “How is any of this alright? Your going to die just because one selfish asshole decided he didn’t like you! How is that alright!?”

He took a step forward and knelt while grabbing her shoulders. He caught her eyes, truly did as he forced the lights to stay and spoke quietly. “It will be alright because it has to be.” It will be, he still had, for some reason, no doubt about that. Even as the tears over whelmed and she began to cry he knew it would be okay.

Stretch came to wheel her out with a final nod, and he was left to his fate. His ever so cruel fate while he knew that she would be crying right out those doors. That his family would be waiting to collect his dust.

He stood straight and faced Sans, the usually lazy skeleton ridged and flat faced. His shoulders tense like he was carry the weight of the world and Edge supposed that a life would have a similar effect.

“sorry i couldn’t get red ta come.” Sans mumbled and really Edge wasn’t going to patronize him for something like that. If Red didn’t want to give his piece he supposed he had to be fine with that. “you ready?”

He was, he had been ready to die since he was born and wasn’t that a sad thought.

“ok, here we go.” The feeling started off like being watched, like a million stalkers knowing his every move, which was weird because Sans’s eyes had gutted out into inky darkness. Then it felt like each of those stalkers suddenly rolled a check off his bones, his spine crawling as he felt magic crawl up his spine. Briefly he could feel his knees hit the ground as Sans’s eyes blazed to life. His life flashed before his eyes.

0-0

_A human had arrived in Snowdin. Tiny with dark brown hair and squinted eyes, a flower sitting snuggly in their arms as they hid behind MK. They should be hiding, he was trying to kill them after all, the King needed their soul._

_“Move.” MK shook his head quickly, baring his teeth at Papyrus. Ballsy that kid, and ever the more rebellious. “I need their soul MK, move.”_

_“No!” Oh for the love of the stars this kid was going to be the death of him, and possibly the death of himself if he kept this up._

_“MK, I don’t have time to deal with this, move or so help me I don’t-!” Papyrus’s mind stalled as little arms wrapped around his legs and quiet sobs reached his ears. They were a child, the human was a child. He couldn’t… he couldn’t… He knelt down slowly. “What is your name?”_

_“Fri-Frisk.” He wouldn’t let this child die._

_0-0_

_“No.”_

_“What! Why not!”_

_“It’s too dangerous.”_

_That was the end of the argument, MK was not bring Frisk out to the forest. Even if it was relatively safe because most people saw the collar on MK and left them alone, but children have been going missing even the collared ones. He didn’t need his wards missing as well._

_0-0_

_He couldn’t find them, Sans didn’t know where they were and he couldn’t find them. Monsters couldn’t find their children and he was one of them._

_0-0_

_The hallway was dusty, white powder piled up against walls, blood streaked in dragged hand prints and feet. His boots were looking more white than black. White, pure like children. So many children dead at his feet. The collar was the only thing that told him MK was still alive, that he wasn’t one of those piles. Though he didn’t know about Frisk, didn’t know if their soul had been taken._

_He was following the noise, of the sound of crying and the odd scream. The labyrinth of halls making it impossible to hurry least he step on a trap. He felt like a mouse in a maze, one who had to tread quietly and listen as the sound dimmed to whimpers and whispers, as the piles grew and the red more prominent. The pain in his soul with it._

_Then there was a door and he sent a quick blip of magic to his brother to tell him where he was and entered._

_He felt his eyes dilate as his one landed on Jerry over a table he had Frisk strapped to, MK sitting on the floor leaking red and looking hazy eyed at him. Jerry brought down a knife._

_“NO!”_

_Bones flew across the room and stabbed through the brown piece of crap before his blackened dust was spread across the floor to join all of which had been killed by that hand. To join the dust on his boots and that of which was covering his armour._

_A whimper and he was checking on Frisk first, ripping the straps off of them and lifting them off the table. He was then by MK, setting Frisk down beside him while he focused on the wound that was still leaking on his side. If Sans hurried he might have a chance, but he needed to stop the bleeding now._

_He pulled his scarf from his neck and wined it tightly around MK’s wound, finishing by continuous pressure to his side. A glance at Frisk showed them very pale and staring at MK, pain in their eyes._

_“You’ll be alright, I’m here now.” MK coughed and dust hit his chest plate, covered his scarf._

** MK gave him smile as he wagged his tail. His attack having splinter the training dummy in half, and Edge was proud. **

_“‘m sorry, should have listened.” He pulled the tiny dinosaur into his arms, and then proceeded to pick up Frisk as well. Both light, tiny because they were children._ Just children.

_**Frisk squealed in laughter as he made a grab for them, their little feet carrying them farther from and the tub he was trying to get them to take. Finally he caught them, lifting them up and feeling their tiny hands clamp onto his cheeks. He felt himself smiling.** _

_“No reason to be sorry, but yes you should have listened.” More dust and Frisk was bleeding, dribbling down their chin and onto their sweater. He couldn't see any wounds and it worried him._

_**MK sat stiffly as he bandaged his and Frisk's wounds, Flowey complaining bout their** **idiocy. Though Edge stayed silent, because they were alive and he could live with that.** _

_He was outside next, in the middle of the forest and sending another signal to his brother. He would never make it to town in time and he had no clue where Sans even was. It would be best to wait._

_“Pap-.” Frisk muttered out and all he could do was stare as their eyes closed and their chest moved less. They were dying, MK was dying, he couldn’t do anything._

_**"Papy!" Frisk cried as they hugged at his legs. A hand on their head all he could offer as they tried to calm down after a nightmare. He lacked the... knowledge to calm them properly, even if he had it the world would knock him down for his weakness.** _

_“boss?” He turned sharply and growled._

_“Help them.” Sans was beside him in a moment and gesturing him to set them down, faint green magic illuminating his hands and working on the two children. Though Edge kept good grip on his scarf and another on Frisk's tiny hand, watched as his brother worked._

_**MK tried to help with the stew, standing on a stool as he stirred the stew. Frisk watching him from the floor. Both kids smiling, both content.** _

_MK was crumbling, his yellow skin paling to grey as he stared up at Edge. Frisk’s skin just as pale and ghostly, their chest barely moving as they breathed._

_**It was gyftmas, but there were no trees or lights or presents, yet he still couldn't help but hide a smile as Sans found the extra mustard, and the children found the wooden figures. It cost himself a week of meals, but they would never know that, never, because he had an image to uphold, and he couldn't do it if they thought he was nice.** _

_“I’m sorry... but... it’ll be alright because it has to be.” MK muttered weakly, and suddenly his scarf was caving in, less red than it was white. Sans was cursing beside him, but was putting more attention on Frisk. That was okay all that was left was a collar and… and dust. Just dust, so much white dust._

_**The children ran around, pushing snow together and making snow angles. No one would find them here, so it was safe. They were safe.** _

_He shuddered on a breath. He was alright. He had to be, he had too. MK was dead, but he had to be strong even with all the… dust. Dust, dust, dust. Red dust._

_**The children smiled at him as the begged for a candy from the first aid kit. He was weak.** _

_He briefly heard a large crack and another curse, a hand pulling on him and the dust falling out of his scarf. The world warped and then fizzed and suddenly there was so much noise. Monsters every where, surrounding him, them. Humans, there were humans too and all he could smell was blood and dust. A pressure on his arm, an attack jabbed through his shoulder blade._

_“not again.” A voice, baritone and lazy. Whispers. Why were all these people here? Why were they here and not Frisk, not MK. MK, oh even his dust was gone. All that was left was his collar. He was killed, Frisk was killed, and he had done nothing. He failed. He was a failure and all there was, was dust._

_**It was their fault**. Jerry’s, the Kings, the humans, him, Sans. It was everyone’s faults that so many _children _were_ _died. That_ his _children were died. It was their fault, his fault. Fault, fault, fault. He had done_ **nothing** _._

**_His scarf was draped over both kids on the couch, their smiles wide. Sans sitting at the end of the couch with a gentle smile of his own, their home the safest and most peaceful place for them to be a family even if it wasn't a normal one._ **

_There was a spark of electrical red and screams._

_0-0_

**“heh, you did good bud, you’ve only ever done good, even when you’ve done bad your good.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to hide in a corner until 24 hour now. *Pulls blanket over head and cries because I made it sadder than what it was originally.* T^T


	45. The Verdict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cliff hanger has been resolved.

Edge blinked, eyes heavy with sleep and sight hazy. It was dark, so very dark, not even an outline seemed to penetrate the mirk. Nothing but a heavy weight on his chest and the smell of stale air. Was this what it was like to die? To turn to dust? An inky black abyss.

The weight shifted and he heard a noise some way off, a thin bead of light emitting from some low place by the floor. Voices spreading out and light surrounding figures like a hallo. The weight shifted and he slept.

0-0

“Edge? Edge dear can you wake up for me?” A low throated groan left him as it felt like his arm being shaken was shattering glass within them. It hurt and he hadn’t felt like this since, since after the very first time he had faced a Judge, _f_ a _ced Sans_. “Edge.”

He squinted, eyes feeling like they were swimming in his skull and the light making his eye lights shrink in pain. When did he get those back?

Soft hands helped him sit up and water was presented to him in which he took shakily. The water was nice, but he could do without the lights. “Edge do you know where you are?” Oh he so badly wanted to say dead, but he felt deep down that, that wasn’t the the right answer. Let's see, a plush bed, soft paws, it was familiar. This had happened before.

“Toriel?” So broken, so cracked that voice was. Though the soft laugh that had come from the goat monster helping him was nice. So very soft and sweet.

“Yes dear, your trial went well.” A hand ran over his skull as he was laid back down, he was so very sore.

“‘m not dead?” That laughter again and the light seemed less bright.

“No dear, your not dead, just tired, a Judging always takes a lot of energy out of a person, even more to someone who’s HP reached one.” Was that why the world felt fuzzy, why he hurt. He was healing. “Sleep again, I’ll wake you up to eat later and maybe accept visitors?”

“Maybe.” And he slept.

0-0

Edge pulled on the shirt stiffly, bones protesting with every twinge of movement. Low HP always made his bones weak and achy, made the pain that much more unbearable to handle. Yet he would. He always would, even more so when he had a room full of people to face.

He proceeded to pull on his jacket before he stepped out of the guest room, feet following the talking into the living room. The quiet monotone voices, ones that didn’t know he was awake. One’s that would never know that he was using a wall to help him get to the room they were stationed in.

The light he stepped out in was warm, a soft glow that came off the fireplace as monsters were scattered around it. Shadows danced across the floor and walls as the fire flickered. A memory falling into his view, but it was tinted red. This was nicer.

“Oh.” He looked up to Toriel’s sharp breath and he suddenly had a dozen or so eyes on him. Just about everyone was here with a few extras. Asgore was missing along with Rus and Raz, and he was starting to think maybe he wasn’t so dead. “Dear, I didn’t realize you were awake.” The goat rushed over to him and he begrudgingly accepted her help.

He looked around the room. Papyrus was sitting on the couch with Sans sleeping snuggly in his lap, Mettaton beside him and had an arm thrown over the back of the couch. Undyne and Alphys sitting to his other side. Stretch sat in one of the arm chairs, Blue curled up into up into his side and some woman sitting on the floor next to the chair. Then Frisk sat with Flowey by Toriel’s chair which he was being lead to and a sudden pain rain through he soul upon seeing them.

He staggered and Toriel caught him easily, every body leaning forward as if to help catch him, but he found his feet quickly. Instead of looking at Frisk he looked toward the human on the other side of the chair, her eyes still red and his scarf still hanging around her neck. She looked nice in it.

He was eased into the chair and Toriel bustled out of the room to get him some food. Monster food and some water. His HP was higher than when he first woke up, but it was still frightfully low and both would be much appreciated.

“how you feeling?” The voice was throaty and surprising, because it came from the lump in Papyrus’s lap. Dim eye light staring at him, and seeing into him much deeper and with more understanding that anyone has ever looked at him with before.

“Tired.” Sans chuckled and shifted so he was sitting, Papyrus helping him the entire way. He looked like he was awake for a week straight and who knew, maybe he was knowing him.

“thought so, though i gotta ask, when were ya going to tell us?” Edge knew what he was talking about. Knew and didn’t want it to be said by either of them, so he decided to share something else instead. The room was silent and waiting, even Toriel simply slipped him a piece of pie before listening.

“…What was there to tell?” He slumped, eyes falling closed as he breathed on a sigh. He still felt empty. He was sure he would for a while. “I failed at my job, couldn’t protect a few… _children_ , couldn’t protect myself, couldn’t do anything, those children died because I couldn’t do anything, they-.” He chocked on a breath, a hand grasping at his face as he attempted to dose the magic building up in his gaze.

A warm paw ran over his skull and he could remember the same thing happening when he was to weak to move. The situation so similar.

“That was five years ago, and by the time anything mattered it didn’t.” His gaze flickered to Sans, at the frown he was sending him. “What is there to tell other than Red pulled us both out of their covered in dust and we were at the surface, what is there to tell?”

“nothin’.” Sans slumped against his brother, pulling his hood over his skull and closing his eyes again. Not asleep, just resting. Edge knew better now.

Silence and then Toriel clapped her hands. “Well, now we just have to figure out where Edge can stay until he is better.”

“He can stay with me.” Ebony’s voice was quiet and raw, but no one argued. Really there wasn’t a better place. Papyrus and Sans was out, Stretch and Rus were out from lack of space, he wasn’t staying with any of the other occupants by a long shot, and quite frankly he liked Ebony’s house more than the others.

“Well then it’s settled, though that arrangement can start tomorrow, it’s much too late now.” Edge could agree with that. He was tired and wasn’t himself yet. Really he should have stayed in bed, though the pie was nice, so was the fire. Stars was he tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waiting to post this is killing me so your all getting it an hour early. Also Yeah!!! Edge is alive. More character building and fluff incoming in later chapters. 
> 
> Also upspree may be over now and I'll be going back to every Sunday, but I really want to get to chapter 47 so I'm working hard at trying to finish my chapter buffer, which is just the one more chapter, unless I decide I need to slip more chapters in... it's a long painful process and I only have tomorrow before I'll probably put my attention to this class. Though it's only six weeks and two days a week, so if I can stay on top of it I should be alright.
> 
> And in which I probably continue to do more world building in the comments than the chapters them selves. Sigh.


	46. Up Stairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Edge is older than probably what any of you would have guessed. This chapter being a bit more light hearted, just a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 25 more kudos till the next special! remember I'll take requests if you want to see something in particular, just comment! I'll do anything but smut.

“I could just carry you.”

“No, you're still healing!”

That he couldn’t argue with, his health was a fourth of what it should have been. However, that didn’t mean he was weak by any means, and if he couldn’t carry her up a flight of stairs what use was there in staying in one of the second floor bedrooms.

“I’m better.” Yes he was. Physically if not mentally as well. Toriel had used an abundance of healing magic and pie on him through out the time at her house. The crack in his skull a little less prominent and his eye lights steady. The Judging itself had also made him weak, but it allowed him to release some of the constant tension in his bones. That fact he wasn’t as horrible of a monster as he had originally thought. He was slightly calmer now. No less depressed, but calmer because he refused to think about anything but right now.

“Better, but not healed.” Her glare was set though it had little effect with her still red, tired eyes. For the fact that she even knew she wasn’t going to get her way, because if he couldn’t convince her to allow him to pick her up, he would simply just pick up the wheelchair with her in it. Something of which he did. “Edge!”

He plowed up the stairs carefully, ignoring everything the human had to say until he was at the top of the stairs and setting his bundle down. He took a moment to look around the alcove, a small room with an abundance of doors. A pair of double doors leading what he guessed to be the library, one right ahead and two to his right. Two thin doors sat directly beside the stairs to his left.

Ebony shot him a glare before heading to the farthest door on the right.Taking a moment to push it open before rolling in. Edge followed behind her quietly.

The room was smallish, though it mostly felt that way for the amount of boxes and furniture that littered the room. A large queen sized bed, a vanity and chest of drawers, a pile of boxes spilling out of an empty closet. Though nothing adorned any surface, the mattress bare and everything coated in a layer of dust.

It’s not white Edge, wasn’t a monsters. He blinked away the image.

“This use to be my parent’s room, they inherited the house first, I had it cleaned up, all their things are in the boxes… it just hurt too much to leave it like it was, like they were still here.” Edge simply nodded at her explanation and instead took a moment to push some of the boxes into the closet properly so Ebony could get around the bed. Her gaze flickering over them and then him briefly before they landed on the bed.

“I’ll have to grab you some sheets and pillows from the closet in the hall… might have to get some things out of my old room.” She rolled out of the room and he followed her to one of the thin doors, which she opened and pulled a pile of sheets out, a few pillows being added to the pile she handed him. She then proceeded to enter the room behind them and he followed her in again.

This room was no bigger than the last if not actually smaller. Though the surface area was made up for in smaller furniture. A twin bed pressed against one wall, a bookshelf full of a number of different book genres, a dresser, and more puzzle boxes. Though he did notice one defining feature. Everything was one shade of blue of another. The walls and ceiling a stark navy blue, the bedspread a light blue and an azure blue rug covering the hardwood floor.

Though even that didn’t distract him from the fact that this had been the room of someone very young if a pile of textbooks said anything about that.

“How old were you?” He breathed and Ebony looked over at him with confused tired eyes before looking at the textbook pile he was staring at.

“Oh I still have to return those.” She muttered absentmindedly before answer his question. “Sixteen, so… nine years ago.”

He gaped at her, his teeth clicking shut as he did. “I thought you were older.” She raised a brow then lowered it and it began to furrow.

“Nope twenty five, how old are you?” He swallowed, looking down at the pile of things in his hands and back at the human.

“One hundred and thirty four.” It was Ebony’s turn to gape like a fish, confusion dawning on her face. “I came to the surface five years ago.”

“One hund- how old do monsters get?!” She threw her hands in the air and stared at him until he was almost too uncomfortable to answer.

“Depends on the monster, some live to a few hundred, Toriel and Asgore are thousands of years old, Gerson is older yet having been old when Asgore was born.” He set the pile he held on the bed. “I’m not really sure about skeletons, there isn’t really anyone older to ask and the oldest of us skeletons is Sans at one hundred and seventy six, Red is only seven years older than me.”

“Oh… humans are lucky if we make it to ninety let along a hundred.” They drew into silence and Edge mulled over that for a moment. Sadness soon flowing through his bones. Ebony would die before him and nothing he could do would change that. “How about we go down and watch some movies, wind down and not think about anything?”

He could do that, has been doing that since he fell asleep again the night before. He was trying not to think. To think about Red, about MK and Frisk. He was trying not to think of his home or his arrival. He was trying to not think about how Sans _knew, knew everything_ and how he was likely going to pester him, or how nightmares laid with him at night. He wasn’t going to think of any of it, just what he had right now. He was only going to think of that and wait until he was stronger before he faced anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting posting jitters, so you get this a day earlier. Well that and I just decide I'm going to post up to 47, since I worked on that buffer I wanted. Though I want to continue to work on it, my wrist really hurts from working in the garden all day, so I'm currently one handed and it isn't even my good hand. Which sucks since I got the drive right now to write especially after I got over my bit of writer's block. Can't even draw and it sucks!.  
> I just hope it feels better by tomorrow for class.


	47. Made Known

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans is tired

Healing was a slow process. His HP was only about half now, and he was still unimaginably tired and weak. It helped little to know that Sans was just as tired if not more, the judging is just as hard as it was on him. Though if anyone had to watch the nightmare that was Edge’s life they would probably feel the same.

Though now that he was better he was forced to think. Forced to be at meetings at the Embassy with Asgore and a new human advisor. Forced to talk about his time with Sam as his advisor and figuring out how the man would be punished for multiple offenses against monsters. Forced to sit with Sans as the little devil stared him down.

“you should have told us about both.” Sans finally said, phalanges picking as the desk he sat at in an office he barely used. One of his many jobs, only this one was barely worked at and yet held the biggest burden.

“It was unimportant.” Sans snorted, narrow eyes zeroing on Edge as his eye lights fizzled.

“unimportant my ass, ever consider that humans might have been more empathetic if they knew you just lost children? if monsters knew?” Sans spun a pencil he had on his desk. The action slightly aggressive. “or how about how your soul is cracked, scared?”

Edge stayed silent. He could explain why he didn’t mention either simply by saying Fell's mentality. Both were a weakness, both would have gotten him killed.

“I thought you would know about the children after the first time we fought, as for the soul… that was a more recent development.” More silence and Sans sagged with a sigh, hand running over his face tiredly. His eye lights blowing up from their tiny pinpricks.

“that judging i used on you was just a regular judging, thoughts, and emotions nothing more.” He rubbed at his tired eyes and Edge just sat as straight as he could. “as for the cracks… yeah, i guess i do know that was recent.” Of course, he should, he knew every little thing about Edge now, down to the first breath.

The silence drew on again and Sans blinked blearily at him. His bones seemed more pale than usual. His eye lights in a constant state of static and weak. He wasn’t looking good at all. Like his energy just sapped away within the past few minutes. 

“just have a lot to think about.” Sans mumbled, looking down at the desk again. “between what i saw, and red, and work, they want me to do weaker judging on sam now too, worrying about you edge.” Sans slumped more, eyes squinting tiredly.

“How… how is Red.” Sans glanced up at him and only seemed to get more tired with that question. Eye lights barely visible.

“eh, here and there and yet never anywhere, sleeps a lot, short-tempered.” Sans sighed. “i wasn’t speaking to him for a while, still kinda mad, but that’s hard too right now.”

Edge watch Sans carefully, at the way his fingers twitched and his eyes seemed to sink. He was tired, exhausted, he had seen the same look on Red a few times. Times that never turned out positive. “Sans.”

Sans looked up at him and gave a dry chuckle and a half hearted wave. He blinked once, twice and then stared. “i’m fine, just tired, haven’t slept, ‘m worried about everythin’, can’t sleep, too many nightmares, and i don’t like bein’ mad.”

“Should I call Papyrus?” Sans shrugged and shifted himself till he was straighter, yet still so frail looking.

“nah, i’ll just blip over on home try to nap some.” A yawn slipped through his teeth and his eye lights finally slipped out. “maybe just sleep some here.”

His eyes slipped closed and he was snoring right after, a text going to Papyrus as soon as Edge could get his phone from his pocket. Said skeleton arriving moments later and cradling his brother in his arms with a sad but tender look. Those same eyes flashing to Edge.

“THANK YOU, I’LL BRING HIM HOME NOW, LET HIM SLEEP, HE’S BEEN WORRYING ME, FOR AWHILE NOW.” Sans looked small in his brother’s arms, small and tired. “MAYBE NOW THINGS CAN GO BETTER, EBONY WITH HER SURGERY IN TWO WEEKS, THE MONSTER GAMES THIS FALL, RED JUST NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE NOW AND YOU AND SANS NEED TO REST UP.”

Edge just nodded and Papyrus was walking out of the room with his sleeping brother. Edge stayed for a few moments more just thinking.

Sans was worrying himself sick, over everything possible. Red sounded like he was acting just like himself, but Sans said he was mad at him, worried about him, so not enough like Red. Sans was worried about him, about the cracks in his soul and the scars from ones of the past. 

Edge stood and walked out of the tiny office, following the halls until he was on the sidewalk outside staring up at a greying sky. It would rain, but he didn’t mind. He quite liked the rain.

0-0

_Papyrus blinked awake, a deep-seated ache sitting in his bones as a furry hand ran over his skull. He was confused, so very confused about where he was and what was going on. Where was he, where was Sans and Frisk, MK? Stars why did he hurt so much? Was that rain? What happened? He was just looking for MK and Frisk and he had found them and… oh._

_He shot up, blanket flaring as he felt his magic hum weakly. His eyes snapping around the room of a child before they landed on a furry goat monster who smiled at him calmly. A bone sparked in his grip only too fizzle out in a bolt of pain, so instead, he signaled Sans and pounced at the furry monster._

_Suddenly his soul pinged blue and he was crashing to the ground inches away from clawing out the goat’s throat._

_“really wouldn’t try that if i were you bud.” Papyrus bristled at the voice of his brother, only this was less garbled and accented. His head whipping to glare at a blue clade skeleton who was sending him a lazy but dark grin._

_“What have you done with Red?” He growled, eyes blazing in fury._

_“he’s eating right now, though i’d watcha here with tori after you trying to tear the town apart.” The skeleton sat down, but Papyrus’s soul still stayed blue and he didn’t have enough magic to fight it. “course with a lv like that it doesn’t really surprise me about what i’ve learned about you, your just lucky your not currently detained because of universe mashing.”_

_Papyrus growled, trying to push against the blue, to get up find his brother and leave. They had dust to collect, a body. He would not stay captured._

_“course, we can still detain you, we did with raz for a week too when he first showed up, took a while to get through his thick skull that he wasn’t in his own universe anymore and he didn’t have to fight.” Suddenly the skeleton that looked so much like his brother was crouching before him. Bones slightly red with the tinge still in his vision. “though from what i hear of your world that will be a bit difficult, ‘specially when you almost killed everyone within a three-mile radius.”_

_Another growl, but he was now remembering snippets of what happened. Of his LV taken control. Humans were running and some monsters, but a group of monsters stood before him. Red was cowering on the ground behind. His magic flaring to life around them. This skeleton had faced him off._

_“Now, now Sans that's no way to make our guest more comfortable, I’m not sure what you saw in your judgment, but you should still try to be welcoming if you do not want him to attack.” The goat sent him a bright smile despite him almost ripping her throat out a moment before, he simply growled. “Hello Papyrus, I am Toriel and this is Sans, we are from a different world than which the one you came from, and I just want to be the first to welcome you here as the Queen of all monsters.”_

_Papyrus tried one last time to strain against the blue, but in the next, he felt a pain shudder over his soul and bones and he was asleep once again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I thought this posted like hours earlier but apparently not, so here it is now. And I think I fixed everything back to the way it was, but I can't remember all of what I changed, so I'll apologize for that real quick.
> 
> Update on the wrist: It's a lot better now. It doesn't hurt just sitting still anymore, and I can move my fingers now without it hurting. It really only hurts now when moved in a way it doesn't like or if I try to lift things, but I currently have a wrist brace on that's helping with that. So I'm really not in that bad of shape anymore.


	48. Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red POV

Red was tired. Mind you not nearly as tired as Sans looked when he stopped in, but tired. A bone-deep tired that sapped up any energy he had and kept him under the blanket nest he had built for himself when he crawled into it the one day and then proceeded to never leave. He wasn’t drunk, wasn’t hungry, not even a bit sore. Just tired.

It really started when his magic started acting funny. Sparks fizzing from his hand and eye, sometimes he would summon a bone without meaning too. The most soul-shaking thing was that his teleports were less precise. Feet away from the target, lately a mile. Nerve-wracking short cuts that he stopped doing, more so in fear of what he saw in them rather than landing in a wood chipper unexpectedly. That might be a blessing at this point

All there was, was red, and dust, and eyes. Staring at him from deep in the void. Watching. Then when he was out and his vision didn’t stop seeing any of it for hours after. His vision always tinted a ~~bone-chilling~~ **lovely red**.

He heard the door downstairs open and close. Papyrus must be home if the cheerful words he could hear from downstairs were any indication. Sans must be with him if he was saying more than the usually cheery ‘I’m home.’ Though he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He honestly didn’t really care.

He heard Papyrus in the kitchen next, the clatter of pans and spaghetti making. An aroma of spice and meat soon filling the house. Then those steps on the stairs. Though they weren’t the usually lazy gaunt of Sans bring him food that he didn’t eat. No, those were the bounds and leaps of his excited brother. That knock not even close to the knock-knock jokes or funny patterns that Sans always filed through.

Even then, like every other time, he ignored it. He was just too tired to deal.

The door cracked open and a strip of light jolted across his form as Papyrus strutted in and placed the plate on the nightstand.

“I BROUGHT YOU SOME DINNER RED SANS, I’M SURE MY BROTHER WOULD HAVE, BUT HE’S CURRENTLY PASSED OUT ON THE COUCH.” A clatter of silver wear and the tap of a cup. “AT LEAST IT WAS IN A MEETING WITH EDGE, I’M SURE ANYONE ELSE WOULD HAVE PANICKED, AND I DO HOPE YOU EAT THIS TIME RED SANS.”

Red didn’t even shift, just slowly cracked open his eyes to the light. Flinching them closed when the light pierced them and a groan ripped from his throat. Was the world always so bright? **It’s too bright.**

“RED?” There was a hand on his shoulder then and his soul sparked to life with magic. The hand jolting away and he was suddenly springing up to grab a group of his bones out of the air before they could shoot off at Papyrus. His chest heaved and his eyes stung. **Red.**

He glanced at Papyrus and then yanked on his magic, his body warping out of the room and the void flashed past. Red, dust, eyes.

He stood on a street, looking around at bustling humans. At the ones who stared. He wasn’t sure where he was aiming for when he first went, but it wasn’t here. He gripped his fist and the bones crumbled as he pulled again and he was suddenly falling through the air. Buildings flying by as those eyes stared.

Another pull and he was at a park. Children laughing as they played on a small playset, humans walking and staring at his sudden appearance, a sand-filled crater not far away. Another pull, red, dust, those eyes.

He landed in a house that was familiar but wasn’t. There was the kitchen and a stairwell, two doors, but it was empty. It lacked boards covering windows and a million locks covering the door. It lacks protection magic and the smell of dust and blood. He had teleported his way to the stars damned Underground, though it wasn’t even his.

He slumped against the wall, his feet stretched out before him as dust danced, and those eyes crinkled with smiles. His head hit the wall, watched as the darkness danced with dust, and tinted different shades of red. His magic crawling beneath his bones and he was tired.

Wasn’t he just a fucking screw up? Almost attacking Papyrus, in control or not it should have never even had happened. Sans would defiantly have his head once he found out. Well if he was ever awake long enough, judging al-. Shit. He fucking missed it.

He was going to go honestly, not to apologize just to see if his brother was ~~alright~~ **dead.** Though he must be still alive if the fact he and Sans had a meeting. **Shame.** He thought he had some time yet, guess he lost track of it, of space. A shiver wracked through his bones at the thought.

He blinked looking as the shadows seemed to crawls across the floor, but he was tired. He wanted to sleep. Could feel his eyes dropping more with every minute. He didn’t want to sleep through. He never felt safe. No, not so long as those eyes stared. Not when he could summon magic in his sleep. **But no one was here.**

No one was. He wouldn’t harm anyone. Nope, he could sleep here, just needed to… Two basters formed to life at his sides. Eyes bright and red and teeth gagged as they watched the world around them. They would keep him safe, keep him alive.

He slid his eyes closed, only to have those same eyes staring in the darkness. Jagged smiles, crystal and ivory claws reaching for him as dust cascaded from them like sand. One set so familiar, a smile wicked, cracks of endless black stretching. Electrical red snapping.

He blinked his eyes open tiredly, the basters wining silently with magic as he stared. Eyes dropping and he was tired.

The red, the dust, those fucking eyes.

**But nobody came.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been waiting for this chapter, because it really explains what's going on with Red. Though if you don't know, or understand that's fine too, because it will be revealed better in due time.
> 
> Now I'm going to piece out and finish my reading for the week. 
> 
> Back to once a week until further notice!!!!


	49. Something real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> itty bit of fluff because why not.

Birds sang as Edge walked. The pile of sticks in his arms growing with each step. Of course with the amount of space he was trying to clean up, he didn’t think that pile would ever get smaller. That it wouldn’t ever stop growing because this backyard was a mess.

“You need to rest.” And the human was persistent. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to rest. Didn’t want to sleep the next week and a half eat and then sleep some more. He just couldn’t, it meant dreaming, it meant those spaces before sleep where all he could do was think. Think about everything that was just on the surface of his mind, which was, in fact, everything.

Working at least was a mindless task. Didn’t require thinking because he had focus, had something to distract him if his mind wondered. He wasn’t thinking, and that’s exactly what he wanted to do until he was healed up enough to handle it. Which wasn’t right now, with his HP only at half. 

“Come on Edge.” Her hand grabbed the back of his shirt, efficiently stopping him in his power walk as she talked. “You're working your self down to the bone.”

He tensed, filtering that through his bones like some sort of poison. He just felt weak now as his shoulders slumped. As he stared off into the distance and simply dropped the sticks in arm in turn to grab the back of the wheelchair. Pushing her in through the back door didn’t take long, nor did falling into that dreaded lumpy couch. He should try and convince her to change it. He wished he stopped hearing puns that weren’t there.

Ebony stared at him as he sat with those unwavering green eyes. She looked better, a little tired, but better. She had been sleeping more, less crying. They would watch movies, and she would fall asleep. They would cook and she would smile, she was smiling a lot more and stars had he missed it. Missed her, missed this.

“You're going to eat something and then go to bed.” She instructed as she went to pull something out of the fridge. Not letting this momentum stop, convinced she could get him to do either. He could eat, but he didn’t know about the sleeping part. “I’ll be doing a puzzle if you need me, but otherwise I don’t want to see you down here.”

The food tasted bland to him, and he almost felt like he was wasting Toriel’s cooking because of it. He loved her pies, it was one of the first pieces of real food he had ever eaten. He owed Toriel so much for all she had done for him when the first arrived. Handling his aggressive nature with ease. Showing him kindness, when he had never felt it before. Housing them for the first few months, until they ended up staying with the Swaps until they had enough gold for their own place. She had sent Frisk to live with Asgore the entire time, and when they visited, he made it a sub-conscience thing to avoid them. 

Though there were times when he couldn’t avoid the child, now teen, and MK. When they were there before he was and he didn’t know. At the embassy where they and MK would be chatting about duties and random things and holidays. When Red attacked them.

If he thought about it, that was probably why the others had started to like him a bit more. He had jumped in front of the attack meant of the child and hitting it away. He had felt rage at Red, confusion, but it hadn’t stopped him from reprimanding his brother. Old habits dying hard. Though none of the other judges questioned, Sans simply lead Red away, and Stretch briefly mention Rus had done the same once. Though it was the reason they couldn’t stay with Toriel anymore. Her kindness wasn’t endless.

The plate was suddenly empty and he got up to set it into the washer. The action was a bit rhythmic. Just like it was to walk into a room with an untouched bedspread. To pull off his shirt and be only in a set of sweets as he crawled under the covers. 

He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

_ “Papy!” “Hey look at this!” “Boss!”  _

He jolted awake, looking warily around, the slightly dimmer room. He had slept some, but not much. He wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep through, even if his dreams had the chance of being positive. They always ended in dust. 

Pulling himself out of bed he headed down the stairs, skirting around the house until he was leaning against the puzzle room doorway. His shoulder twitched slightly with the pressure, his mind briefly remembering how it shattered and was only kept together by his LV. He could still use his arm because of his LV, something he never thought he would be grateful for.

Ebony looked like she was halfway through a pile of puzzles, her face contorted into focus, and he realized she was trying not to think too. She was trying to stay distracted from what happened just like he was and they were both doing a horrible job at it if the hand she had clenched at his scarf said anything about that.

His eyes flickered around the room until they landed on that butterfly. Safely stored on a shelf where it could stare down at both of them.

_ If you can’t walk, fly and be free of your burdens. _

He wished he could fly right now, save him a lot of pain. His gravity stunts didn’t count and didn’t always work.

Pushing off the frame he walked forward, placing his hands on the human's shoulders. She jolted and looked up at him as he looked over the half-finished puzzle. He could practically feel her scowling at him.

“Don’t  _ do _ that, and you're supposed to be asleep and not here unless you needed me.” 

He hummed, leaning down until his arms were wrapped around her neck and he could bury his face in beside them. It was awkward and unlike him, but he could feel the heat radiating off her as she blushed. 

“I was and now I need you.” And he did because he needed to be with something real, something real and not the shadows that danced in the back of his mind. He needs her. Stars did he need her, even his soul was singing to him about it. 

A hand petted his skull, voice quiet as she spoke. “Would you like to help?”

He nodded into her hair, before turning to look at the puzzle and they worked. Him briefly lifting an arm to move something or just telling her of a piece. Their silent laughter tumbling out as they dropped a whole puzzle on the floor. Him actually going looking for a chair for himself long after his spine began to throb. 

Stars did he just need  _ this _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah! update time! Which will probably be Saturday for the next two months. My class ends around the 20 of august so I'll have a brief period of writing time before I start classes full time in September. 
> 
> Anyway, I fully plotted out my chapters, give or take a few and got this down to what all needs to happen on a chapter to chapter basis. Though time might seem a bit weird for a while, as it will kinda be speed through a bit, since I can't write a chapter for everyday, well I could but they would suck. Either way this will end up being around 75 chapters maybe a bit more. So about 25 chapters left to go, and if I ever over come this stupid writers block by the time I finish my class I'm sure I can get that done before September. I have determination on my side!


	50. A change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ebony is scared of rain only sometimes and a master distractor, so they also talk.

It was raining again. Heavy drops hitting the glass like bullets, lighting crashing across the sky, and thunder shaking the house. The speed rising and falling with the swell of the clouds, with the wind and just how much decided to fall. It would be a miracle if the basement wasn’t flooded. It would be a miracle if Edge lasted the storm with how tight Ebony was holding onto him.

She had been fine for the longest time, watching the rain through the windows and smiling contently. Then she was suddenly panicked and crying, blubbering about lights and losing him and there was little more he could do then pull her into his lap and just hold her close.

He was always at a loss when it came to comforting someone. Couldn’t remember a time Red did when they were kids and he was tiny. Didn’t know how to comfort, didn’t know how he liked to be comforted. He just knew people liked to be hugged, a shoulder to cry on. He could do that, he could share her burdens. Gave him less space to think about his own.

He ran a hand through her hair as he quickly checked his email. None that he hadn’t read. Mostly people pulling out of job offers and a few from Asgore. His text messages were full of messages from the other skeletons. They wanted to do another movie night and yet Sans and Papyrus were suspiciously quiet on the matter. That could just be that Sans was still resting though.

The rain slowed and Ebony’s tears as well, her grip a bit less tight. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled, and he couldn’t understand why. His HP was about two-thirds of the way up now, her grip or tears wouldn’t shatter his bones anymore. “I just, there were car lights and I… I really didn’t want to bug you with this right now.”

His petting stilled and he glanced down at those glossy eyes of her’s, attempting at offering a smile. “After everything that has happened, you may bug me all you want, especially if it’s about your traumas.”

She stared, nodded, and then went back to burying her face into his shoulder. They sat like that for a long while, his fingers trying to work the knots out of her hair as he waited. Then the rain was a quiet drizzle, and they decided to put on a movie. The room soon filling with the smell of popcorn and gangster movie noises.

“What’s a judging like?” Ebony suddenly murmured over the noise of a tommy gun going off. Some one-liner being shot off and Edge just stared.

“Unforgiving.” He voiced at just the same volume, eyes glued to the TV. “Everything you ever have seen, ever touched, thought, felt, you relive it all as karma leaches at your soul and you feel your sins crawling up your back.”

He looked down, eyes catching her own thoughtful orbs, her lips puckered as she considered his words. “And no one has any control over what happens? Like Sans can’t control how much he sees or how much the karma affects a person?”

“No, a… A Judge has to apply to the rules of Judgment and the rules of their soul, and they are a very powerful monster as they are the only monsters with traits and as such strict rules.” He looked back at the TV and tilted his head as he ran over his thought in his mind. “Out of the four Judges that are currently here, Sans is the only one doing the duties, Red isn’t allowed to do them, Rus has enough to handle with his own and his brother’s problems, and Stretch… he gets very ill after a Judgement.”

“Are Judges only skeletons, and what are everyone’s traits?” She asked now, her eyes on the TV as well.

“I’m not sure, Red was born a Judge but didn’t do much judging back home, I imagine it was the same for the others, and I was too young to know if there were any Judges before that.” He shifted, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and over her shoulders. “Sans’s traits are patience and justice, Stretch’s are integrity and kindness, Rus has bravery and perseverance, and Red… Red has determination.”

“How come Red only has the one?” Her eyes were on him again. Those forests of never-ending green. So full of pain, and for once he wished he could read people like a Judge did to figure out what was going through her mind.

“Red has LV, a lot of LV, I’m not sure how high it is, but I’m fairly certain it rivals my own and most of it he had gained before I was in the guard… I think it’s why he drunk so much.” He tipped his head, letting his eyes close as he thought. “Either way Red use to have different soul traits… I think it was like bravery and perseverance of something like that, but he broke the rules of his soul, and at one point he was not well when I was a kid, he was very sick for a long time, and in a lot of pain because he broke those rules, but he had been so determined to live and protect me at the time that the traits just amalgamated into one to keep him alive.”

“For such an asshole, Red sounded like he did a lot for you when you were a kid.” 

Edge sighed, letting his eyes fall open as he stared at the roof. “After he was ill he drank a lot more, he paid less attention, he slept lots and I was young and stupid and didn’t understand that he had almost fallen down, so I joined the guard despite him telling me not too, then when I made people fear me by showing I didn’t even have mercy for my own brother, after I became captain it got better for a while, then I had another ward for a while and things were better yet, then we came here and things plummeted because we were both scared and confused and trying to get used to things that were so much different, I took a lot longer than Red to get used to it.”

She hummed as she started to play with his fingers, folding them between her own and then flipping his hand every which way to look at his bones. “Then what happened?”

Edge sucked in a breath, eyes flying to her, to their hands, and he released it. “I… I don’t know, we were doing so much better and suddenly he just… it was like a flip switched that day and he’s too prideful to even speak of it, he’s determined to be what he is right now.”

“And what makes it so much easier to talk about it now?” Edge had to pause at that, and at the fact, he was talking about something that had plagued his thoughts for months like it was so much less traumatic, and with so much clarity. It was like he had been living with it for years instead of just the time he had been. “What changed?”

“I don’t know.” And really he didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating early again because I'll be busy all weekend working on a group project that we haven't started on that's due Wed. It's stressful (since we haven't picked a topic yet and I can't just work on it even though I want to).
> 
> Also Chapter 50! and 66k I honestly didn't think this would be this long. Then again when I started I only had a few senes played out, but wow, especially since we're not done yet. 
> 
> Though completing this might take longer then I want it too. I keep falling into moods where I know what to write and I want to write, but I just can't. Staring at my computer screen just seems like a chore, and I'm not sure if it's just stress of everyone's current need to piss me off, but it makes it hard since none of my de-stress methods are working. Though if today keeps up this way, it feels like it will be a good day, especially if I'm able to write a note this long. So maybe, hopefully, I'll be able to write some chapters tonight.


	51. Soul Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge needs to know.

The room was dark, not so dark that Edge’s vision switched to the night vision the skeletons contained, but still dark. Though that would be best for what he wanted to do, because he had to know. He had to see and he didn’t need harsh lights hindering it. Had to do it, while he had the nerve to take it out.

He sighed as he shifted and summoned his soul and the room was bathed in a dark red light. His soul bobbed slowly in his cupped palms, as it pulsed with his LV. His EXP swirling below the surface of his soul in varying colours of crimson and black. Though that just made it easier to see the white unmoving lines hatch marked through his soul.

He could remember the occurrence of each and every one even without the the Judging having happened. That was the first time Red had broken his trust, that one his first kill, and his second over there, each and every one he remembered because it was impossible not to remember such a pain. Of an emotion or feeling so strong your soul isn’t even able to contain it, spiting the surface as it was stretched thin.

He breathed slowly as he commanded it to turn so it faced him now. His breath hitching slightly. There were two cracks following the front of his soul, one much older, and one much more healed than the other. Funny how they weren’t the same one. He breathed.

The older one was still ugly and gnarled like it had just been made or re-broken, and it might have during the Judging when he had to watch Frisk’s and MK’s death all over again. Then again it might have never healed much from the first time, it had been too hard to address at the time.

The newer one was much more healed the crack fading away as a white line near the bottom and along the edges. It was hardly a sliver and he doubted it would take much more to make it nothing more than another white line. He wasn’t exactly sure what that much more was, but he doubted it would take much.

That was the crack Red left, one of betrayal and pain. It had healed so much and now it was easer to talk about because it wasn’t so suffocating. Wasn’t filling every single corner of his being anymore. He honestly doubted that he would be more than indifferent when he faced Red now. He understood now, had more clarity from seeing everything from a different view and with different eyes. Now that he was looking at himself from the outside. It wasn’t his fault, nothing ever was.

It was Asgore’s fault the kingdom fell. It was other monster’s choices to be horrible and attack him, force him to dust them by not giving up. It was the supplier’s fault they never had enough rations, taking too much for themselves. It was Jerry’s fault the children died. It was Red’s fault that his soul was cracked and he was hurting.

The only thing that was ever his fault was his own actions, he had choices and he was responsible for them. Just like how he let his LV slip out of his control those few times.

His soul faded away, back into his chest and the light following. His once tense pose relaxing, and his breath slowing to a relaxed rhythm. He wasn’t a bad person, or a failure. He was only forced to chose between unfair choices. To act in accordance to his environment. He knew that now, knew that no matter how tainted his soul was it still didn’t affect who he was. He was Papyrus, he was a skeleton, a captain, a brother, he was a friend and a killer, he was Edge and that was something he could live with.

He breathed, he lived, he was alright.

0-0

The truck door slammed after he put his bag in. A chill nipping past him as he climbed into the front seat. He didn’t want to leave, not really, but his HP was full again and he had a job, he felt it was time to try and get back on his feet again. That and it wasn’t like he wasn’t going to be here any time he had available. There wasn’t that much time till the surgery now, and Ebony still had a list they needed to take care of. One they could do now.

There was also so much he had to do at home. New furniture, deal with finances, cleaning. There was questions that need to be answered, like about the Monster Games, and meetings at the Embassy. Figuring out if the company was really worth keeping with how few jobs it was getting and the point of him trying to run it himself.

So many things, too little of time, but he would figure it out.

“I’ll see you tomorrow right?” Ebony called from the front step, wheelchair dangerously close to going over the three steps there.

“Yes, I’ll be over at sunset and we can watch that movie.” He watched her nod and he brought his truck to life. It was nice to be able to go places again, to be able to breath and not have every thought centred on his brother. He was almost thankful for that Judging.

Ebony waved as he pulled away and onto the street, her smile wide.

Yes he was quite alright now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay you may be wondering while I'm posting today!  
> For one I finished my part in the project so I have some free time and I'm just hopping I don't have to redo anything again.  
> Second, I have exceeded my chapter buffer so I decided I would post again, and will probably post when ever I exceed the number I have placed for It aside from the once a week. Which is just this one for now.  
> thirdly, over the next couple days here I will be going back to edit some old chapters, nothing that will change the plot just some small things and inconsistencies I noticed while rereading and oh boy is it bugging me now, so I'm not sure if that will send out notifications or anything, but just so you know.   
> And that is all I currently have to say! Have a good day/night!


	52. Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge knows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be Sunday's post because I'm going to be busy this weekend and even if I do get time I probably won't want to write. And I'm very tired right now so if theres something weirdly spelt or confusing I blame that.
> 
> This is not my best chapter, I had it written out way before (and I liked it than) but things changed and it didn't work, so this is my shot at rewriting it to fit it in better.

Edge flinched as he woke, the sound of cracking filling his senses. So much like that of a soul shattering, of one splintering apart. Though that didn’t fit. Didn’t fit with the smell, with the time, with where he was.

Another click followed by a hum and he blinked his eyes open to stare at a brown painted ceiling. Springs digging into his back and the sun peeking through the curtains with early morning light, For a brief moment he had to wonder what, when, and _why_ he fell asleep on this stars forsaken couch. A curse on his and anyone’s, who has ever had the misfortune to sit on it, back bone is what this thing was.

A few clicks in a row had him sitting with the crack of his bones. His eyes drawing to the kitchen where some unnatural light was slipping in from beyond. It was in that space that he could smell the rich blend of a good tea soaking. The herbal smell so much better than that of dust and dirt.

He stood next, stealing away into the kitchen and pouring himself a cup of the fragrant tea. Perfectly plain and burning hot, just how he liked it, and it hadn’t been made that long ago.

Next was following the noise to the puzzle room. Where he found Ebony hunched over and sorting through a few pieces of a fresh puzzle. A pile of blue, some red, pinks and oranges, another few purple ones. Her hands working effortlessly to move pieces around, sometimes followed by a click as she found one she was looking for.

He leaned against the door frame as he silently sipped his tea. Watching her in her element, where she was happiest… no, not quite. There was always a hidden sadness in the way she did a puzzle. Like it was missing something.

“Did I wake you?” He focused on her more, watching as her head tilted but not turning. He was surprised she even noticed him. He was more surprised he didn’t spook her and then get booted out for almost causing her a mini heart attack again.

“No, your couch did.” She snorted at that and pressed her hands flat on the table before turning to shoot him a snarky smile.

“Everyone tells me to get rid of it.” He stepped closer with his cup in hand, glancing over her shoulder and at what she had done so far. The edge was done and what he could guess it was of the sun setting or rising. Lots of the same colours.

“You should.” Pure, true laughter rang from between her lips as he moved her hand to grab the piece he was looking for from underneath. He saw her hide it, she wasn’t going to fool him like that.

“I should… shouldn’t I?” Her head tilted again as she brought a hand up to lean against. The other hand sliding into her lap as she considered the puzzle. “Sorry, I’m just not all there, not with the surgery so close.”

Three days to be exact, including today. Then with the help of monster magic and food, some time of physical therapy and she would be walking on her own. She should be walking on her own by the time the games rolled around. Something he should probably start thinking about.

“It’s hard to relax.” She fit another piece into place before letting her hands fall again with a sigh. “I can’t go to the balcony and just sit and listen and watch, can’t get to any of the books up there anymore… I can’t wait for that… if it works.”

Edge stared at her for a moment before setting down his cup harshly. The bit of liquid left in it sloshing as he watched her jump. Puzzle pieces shifting across the table with the action. Most of that action blooming from that one little ‘if’ “Why wait?”

She blinked, faster as he pulled her from the table. Questions falling from her lips that he ignored, and protests he ignored as he once again picked her up at the bottom of the stairs. Only this time he didn’t bring the wheelchair with. His thoughts to busy moving to how light she was in his arms, and the way she clung to him as if he would drop her.

By now she should know he much rather dust than drop her, but he supposed that wasn’t necessarily common knowledge.

They were on the landing next, his feet carrying him towards the double doors and pushing them open. A flash of movement catching his eyes as a pile of books toppled into another. Pile after pile hitting the floor, creating an ocean of pages and spines across the floor.

He heard a giggle as he plowed through the mess and to the doors in the corner, pushing those open as well with a bit of help. Crisp air hitting them as they stepped out into the morning air. Their view stretching wide, as the little balcony had a few steps that allowed them to look over the trees and pieces of the city. The little Victorian style house a bit taller than he expected.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, the sky mostly blue and purples. A fairly striking match to the picture on the puzzle she had been working on moments before. A view worth seeing if it meant seeing the awe struck look on Ebony’s face a bit more often, and of the way her whole being seemed to light up with the site before them. Her smile infectious and those green eyes flashing gold.

“Oh…” She mumbled, as he shifted her into one of the deck chairs, him taking another. His legs a bit squished in the too small for him chair, though he supposed it wasn’t any worse than that couch. “You didn’t have too…”

“I did, because it made you happy.” She was now staring at him with a smile, her face glowing red, before she was looking at the sky again. Staring long enough for the sun to fully rise and the colours to fade to blue. Long enough that he was going to be late to work and he didn’t care. He liked being here more.

“Do you dance Edge?” He focused again, at the way she was smiling at him.

“Pardon?” Her smile grew.

“Dance, do you know how?” He blinked, mind reeling back to when the first Monster Games and Blue taught them to dance for the ball after.

He remembered brash words and his own impatience and hate. He remembered an ever patient and cheerful Papyrus and Blue, and Sans being forced to dance with Red. He remembered Stretch stepping on his feet more than once and then cracking some pun or another until he was steaming in anger. It hadn’t been a good time.

“I do.” Her smile got brighter as he spoke, and he felt himself staring.

“When I get my legs back, dance with me, I want it to be the first thing I do.” He stared some more as she only smiled. At the way she glowed with the golden light cascading over her. He looked at her, really did, and his soul was singing the entire time.

“Of course.” He didn’t think her smile could get any bigger, but there she went proving him wrong. Proving him wrong on a lot of things. There was one thing he was sure he was correct on though. He was undoubtedly and royally confused because his soul keeping singing out the same tune. Love, and if he missed work to help her sort the library just to keep hearing it that was on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, yeah he knows and now we can get this ark rolling.  
> Secondly:  
> Okay so in the comments HistoricallyDragon mention how my character were really well thought out, and I started this response that kinda went off topic and became really long in explaining myself. Anyway by the time I finished I realized this could be insightful or just informative, and as such wanted to share it with everyone so they could learn from it or even just understand me a bit more as a writer.   
> This is my response: 
> 
> So I do have the rest of the story planed out and certain aspects of characters set at the beginning, but my knowledge over the characters don't entirely come from just that. I once heard or read a quote somewhere that basically said that the best characters write themselves, and another that said every character is a little piece of yourself, and that's a bit of what goes on with me and what I try to go by. It's why my writing style focuses so much on the characters thoughts and actions and not the outside world and other people even, I make the most important connection with them and not everything else. I focus on them as people and what they're seeing and feeling and focusing on. So I kinda use a third-first person point of view (there's a proper name for it I just can't remember) in my writing to do this.
> 
> I learn of my characters by watching them through this connection and through questions, it's like how the Judging ark was not planned, at all. I was just, "I should have a chapter with Ebony... but about what? Maybe her waiting for Edge to meet with the Embassy about Red’s mistake." And after that I don't really think, I just wrote and it was suddenly all written down and Edge had a death sentence (I even surprised myself with that bit after writing it), and I had the whole ark written. So when I get comments I just kinda go "we're talking of this character and/or about this topic so..." then I'm writing and sometimes when I get to a certain point I reread it and go "that not right, though this does bring a thought/realization on this." and I'm rewriting it, I'll even do that with entire chapters or a few in a row because I realize something further in my writing. So I’ll likely write a whole ark in one go, or chapters that are strongly connected at the same time after I had realized I do this.
> 
> I always joke with myself that I do more world building in the comments than the story itself. Different comments make me interact with my characters in different ways than the story and from that I just write and give varying replies like this one based on what my mind comes up with. It's one reason I can get into some extreme writers block, I lose the ability because I can't interact with my work properly and other times I can’t stop writing (like now) because I have a very strong interaction. This reply is making me interact with myself and my writing and a lot of this I didn't even think about it's just there and it's suddenly way longer than planned and I learn things about myself that I didn't known about before. 
> 
> That was basically what I had and from this I pulled some advice that might help you (or not) in your own writing as it seems to help me.   
> 1\. You need to understand how you write, and why you write in this way in order to understand what you're writing.  
> 2\. Writing characters isn’t all pre planning, a lot of it is watching them grow as the story progresses and understanding the choices they choose to make in the world you place them in.   
> 3\. Things you write should surprise you, and they should also make enough sense that you could talk about it for hours. (Like this whole reply) since -v  
> 4\. Your writing and characters are just a piece of yourself so you have the info, you just have to put it down even if you don't know what that is yet. (this might contradict other things I've said, but to me if fits in)
> 
> So here you have it if any of this sleep deprived info makes sense.


	53. Advice Seller

Seven times. It took seven calls before Stretch picked up, and Edge was certain it was because someone was keeping him from it. Stretch didn’t go back on his word. Edge knew that from experience, and sometimes not the funnest experiences. As such Edge never tried to give Stretch reason to prank him again, more so to save another door least he blow it up.

Stretch was out of breath when he answered, like he ran a mile to get to the phone. Though with Stretch that could be three feet and even then he would sooner teleport. “‘ello?”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” He ended up asking directly, too many factors leading up to a busy time. Too many things that he could possibly be interrupting.

“never, edgy, bad time or good time, i always have time, that and you saved me from the media.” Edge heard the click of a door and then a lighter sparking to life. Wind and car horns and he had to wonder just where Stretch was. “so whatcha need edgy?”

“Advice.” There was a train of silence as Edge heard Stretch breath on a smoky breath, and he was suddenly craving a smoke of his own. His feet carrying him to the back deck before he even really considered what he was doing.

“advice? well aren’t you asking the right guy, i got good advice, and bad advice, advice on money, on picking good smokes, i-.” Stretch silenced his humoured ramble when Edge cut him off.

“Advice on love Stretch.” Edge growled and soon enough heard his friend coughing up a lung on the other end of the phone, which was quite a feat since they didn’t have any. Though now he had to also worry about killing Stretch via suffocation.

“love?” Stretch croaked, coughing until he sucked on what Edge hoped was a smoke free breath. “yeah i got that too.”

“Stretch.” Edge drawled as he stuck a flame stick between his own teeth and breathed. The smoke filling his skull calming him immensely.

“well, what do you want to know?” His voice was clearer this time and full of a seriousness that Edge really needed to hear. Needed it as a confirmation that Stretch was taking this as something important.

“How can you tell?” He finally asked as he leaned against the railing of the deck. Silence drawing on the other end for a moment as he heard Stretch puff out smoke rings on the other end.

“if your in love?” Stretch mused aloud and Edge could almost see him rolling his lighter through his fingers as he stared up at a light polluted sky. “well for monsters it a bit more straight forward then humans, simply put, if you think your in love you are, because your soul is trying to tell you, in thoughts, emotions, sometimes you’ll hear it sing, persistent little bastards, an they don’t really do a liking stage.”

Edge breathed for a moment, looking up at his own light polluted sky as he spoke. “How do you tell someone?”

Stretch chuckled slightly at that. “ask them out, date for awhile, etc, what happened back in your world? maybe you can do something that’s just you.” The innocence in that last statement kindled the fear striking through Edge’s soul. He couldn’t collar another being, not when he failed to take care of the others. Something that he didn’t think would ever quite let go.

“No.” He grounded despite the thought of Ebony wearing a collar made by him seemed so nice to his Fell tinted mind. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, and that was finial.

“alright then, just tell her maybe, your a straight forward kinda guy, if she seems shocked just explain what i told you, our soul tells us and theirs no changing that.” Another flick of a lighter and muffled voices walking by murmured over the phone and Edge ground out his smoke in the ashtray beside him.

“How you know it’s a her?” Edge murmured as he tried to see some stars between the rust coated clouds.

He could almost hear the smile in Stretch’s voice as he spoke. “i don’t need to be a judge to see what’s going on, and besides i got a real nose for lies.”

They drew into silence for a moment or three, just breathing the crisp night air, or in Stretch’s case the crisp smoke tinted air. “What if she doesn’t feel the same?” Quiet, but he still hoped Stretch heard.

One of which skeleton who snorted before replying. “i don’t really think you have to worry about that, but take her on some dates if your so worried, show her your someone she can love.”

More silence and Edge could hear someone talking quietly on the other end of the phone, and then Stretch’s own hum of a reply. Edge decided to cut this short.

“I’ll let you go, I have some thinking to do.”

“you sure.” Stretch breathed, the smoke on his voice gone and that door opening again.

“Yes.” A lie he was certain Stretch could smell right through the phone.

“all right see ya later edgy, call again some time, ya?” More voices in the background and Edge figured he was allowing the lie simply because he couldn’t hold this off.

“Good bye Stretch.”

The phone went dead and Edge set it to the side before lighting another cigarette between his teeth. So he was in love with Ebony. Had been for awhile without even noticing it. Sure he had a strong liking towards her and more trust than he held for most, but love? He hadn’t thought he was capable with his other kind of LoVe.

Though that wasn’t of great concern. What bothered him was when he should tell her. Should he tell her? He had no reason not to. He could handle a bit of heartbreak if she rejected him, he was sure. Nothing would change on his end, but he really hoped it wouldn’t make it awkward for her and change the steady friendship that they had. He really might not be able to stand that even more if it some how caused it to end it.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do. Maybe just figure everything out before it got harder. Before things became complicated. Before he could chicken out. Before she could find someone else. He really didn’t like the thought of that. Really didn’t like the thought of losing her to someone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heres the chapter on time for once, though I don't know about the next one. I just started working so all my free time has been going into either work, school, or catching up on sleep, and my chapter buffer kinda got wreaked since I decided I wanted to rewrite the next chapter. So we'll see what will happen.


	54. Puzzle Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge plans a grand gesture.

The workshop in the grange was dusty when Edge stepped inside, and he barely blinked at its disorder. He already knew Red had a chaotic sort of organization that was just like his wiring, but the tools that Edge needed were all in places that he could directly see. All the resources already bought, and all he needed was to build it.

Of course building a puzzle box was no easy task, especially in the time he had to do it and of the kind he wanted to make, but he could do it. Could build it, solve it, add the gift, and then unsolve it. If he was lucky he would get it done before tomorrow, even luckier if he made it with enough time for Ebony to solve it before her surgery. If he could he wanted to get it done before tomorrow night.

Pulling the chair from under the work bench he sat down, his knees hitting the underside of the desk in the process, and his supply bag dropping to the corner of the desk. His hands picking out the tools he needed as his eye scanned over screw sizes and glue. Mind working over a mental blueprint.

Three main puzzles and a gift. One for compassion, and all that it sprouts. One for hope, and all of its growing buds. The last one for… love, and in everything that it blooms and at it’s centre… the very soul of the declaration. The greatest statement a monster could make when picking a potential partner, well, aside from collars in his own world, and the only thing that he could think that was him.

He never before believed he would ever make a puzzle of this kind. Never believed he would have reason to, and yet here he was cutting out and staining wooden pieces. Tiny screws securing laches and pieces, glue securing others. Pieces sliding together, condensing, shifting, locking into place. Each piece polished and shining, wood stained different colours to match his theme and his stained fingers. His eye straining to make sure nothing catches or snares, until an egg shaped box sat within his palms.

The outside ebony in colour, and shaped perfectly so that it balanced if set down. The first part of the puzzle only adding to its shape. His phalanges moving to solve that exact puzzle until it was unfurling in his hand and opening to the puzzle within. Pieces sliding through his hands until he reached the chamber within.

Edge breathed as he pulled out his gift. Another hand made piece, which he slowly infused his magic in until it glowed. Eyes watching carefully as he slipped it into the puzzle and started to shift the pieces back together until the same egg shape laid before him. All his hard work laid before him.

It was done. Sitting before him and waiting, waiting for him to look at the time. Has he really been working that long? To get ready for an outing that was sure to start sometime soon. So much to do.

Could he do it? Could he give this to her now that it was sitting before him? Now that he was faced with a stronger commitment and yet another possibility of failure? Could he chance it? Chance being rejected, chance being accepted? Could he chance losing her?

He didn’t want to, want to lose her, but stars did he just want her. He had falling in love without realizing it, with no control and barely any reason. He was sure it happened the first time she smiled at him. Was sure now that his soul decided as soon as he saw her, and now here he was following it, because he had to didn’t he. His soul was him, and everything that he was so essentially it was everything that this was and everything that he decided.

Yes. Yes he could. Now he just had to get ready. To dig through his closet to find something presentable. To find a bag for this. He needed to call Ebony, and maybe Stretch again. He needed to move, right now, and take his eye off this wooden box.

He was going to do it, he was going to ask her out, he just needed to get there now with his confidence intact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's kinda short and kinda late, I've been a bit busy (just got a job aside from school) and I would have written this Saturday if I hadn't fallen face first into a trash can, but it's here now anyway. The next one will be late as well, though it will hopefully be longer, and if I don't respond to your comments quickly, I apologize. My brain is in sleep mode for most of the day and I don't always write the best or know what to say when I'm tired. Though after next Wednesday I should have some more time to write and answer people so things should hopefully be back on track for a few weeks after that.


	55. My Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ebony POV. She solves a puzzle.

The air as crisp as they sat on the balcony together in the fading light. Ebony’s eyes trained on the seed shaped object in her hand. It was about as big as a pop can, and a deep brown that was shinning auburn in the light reviling an intricate work of lines and creases spreading across like a labyrinth. The polished wood sat heavily in her hand, carrying a sturdier weight then she was expecting and really she just wasn’t expecting it as a whole.

“What’s this for?” She looked at the skeleton beside her, who was focused on the clouded sky and not even sparing her a glance. Though the way he clasped his hand together told her he was nervous. Nervous of the gift she now held in her hand.

“It’s… an offer.” Her eyes looked back to the object in hand, and knew there was to it then just that, just like there was so much more to him. “You have to open it to understand.”

She turned it over in her hands running her fingers over the seems, but nothing to directly open it. Though the ways these intersect, and those reminder her of… her fingers shifted and the wood went with it. The box clicking as she continued to work on shifting pieces and the shape seemed to crack open and a little, green, stem came from with in, but the puzzle wasn’t done yet. She shifted more pieces between her hands causing the stem to grow up and pull something up from within, her fingers moving until a green bulb was sitting at the end of the out stretched stem, the seed pieces locking up in her hand.

She set it in her lap, the shape having shrunk with the shifting and now her attention was focused on the bulb. The puzzle was different, more complicated, seamless. Her fingers fluttered, eyes searching. The puzzle in the seed was done, the stem extended, now she just had to open this. How though? No seems, no buttons or levels. There was nothing hidden anywhere else on the object, so what could make this flower bloom?

Edge was cunning with puzzles she knew, knew he wouldn’t pick out something simple, but what was the trick behind this one? Maybe a play on words? What makes a flower bloom? Water, sun, dirt, but he wouldn’t have given it to her here and at this time if that was the case. Maybe more of a metaphorical kind of flower? Though what would that be? It wasn’t like it was… oh.

Puzzles were important to monsters, they gave people they cared about puzzles. They found them important, Edge more so than others. They don’t give out puzzles lightly and here was one in her hand, staring her in the face and it was hand made not some cheep thing bought at the store. Edge gave her a handmade puzzle, he said it was an offer, but wasn’t an offer just a proposal. Sure it probably wasn’t anything drastic as marriage, but perhaps dating and, oh dear, she was crying now wasn’t she.

Edge wanted to date her, he liked her. He liked her, and oh god was she relieved, because she liked him. She liked him and didn’t know how to say it with everything that was going on. Now here it was right before her, and she was just so glad… Just so glad that she could feel happy and the same after almost losing him, of almost losing this. Now they were working through it, slowly and without any tact, but working through it together, and that was what mattered, that they were doing all this together.

Fat water droplets hit the puzzle and she heard Edge start beside her, but her hands were on the puzzle. Her fingers flicking and it opened with a pop, petals curling down in segments until a blood red crysthanamum sitting before with bright green shinning from it’s centre.

She reached in tears still flowing as she pulled out the chain until an emerald coloured pendant hung before her. Spinning in the open air and shining, red swirling below the surface and something about it just felt like Edge. Was just everything that was him, being offered to her. His offer, his proposal.

“Yes.” Her voice cracked as she looked at it, felt the protection, and the care radiating off of it. Felt the intent and it only made her cry harder, only made her happiness grow along with her relief.

“Pardon?” Edge mumbled, staring at her wide eyed and she only turned to him beaming. Feeling as if she would explode with happiness.

“Yes, I will go out with you.” She would and she knew, because what else would this intent mean? What else would the love that was radiating off of this gem represent, the fact it would be sitting along side her soul so she felt it everyday. That it would always be by here side.

Her thoughts were only confirmed when he smiled, arms wrapping around her and lifting her off the chair, swinging her slightly until she was laughing. Until he was laughing. They were both laughing, and if she felt her shoulder start to damping as he burried his face in it that was none of her business. She was just so happy, with her here in Edge’s arms and his heart in her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!!!! And I know it's only been like a week, but I'm giddy as hell to start working on this properly again. Still got work, but I'll have all evening to write for the next two weeks, and I'm going to abuse my time as much as I can for writing now that my class is over. For now I hope this will suffice for the time being.
> 
> I'm going to try to get the special up tomorrow since I see we hit 101 kudos, and if theirs any last minute request try to get them in before tomorrow evening, and I'll add them in!
> 
> Also I little WIP art of Edge I'm working on (I just change how I draw him again so the style is probably going to change for the final draft): https://amberasters.tumblr.com/post/625576223567970304/now-to-post-some-art-that-i-saved-before-the


	56. Surgery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edge waits,

Edge’s leg bobbed as he waited in the stupid plastic chair. It was uncomfortable, despite actually being in his size, and people kept staring at him. He might be able to blame his scowl on that, or the scarf he held in his lap like a life line, but he wished they allowed him to sit in what ever room Ebony was going to be placed in after she got out. It would of caused for less problems and less children asking him how he got the scar on his skull. A question he couldn’t really answer without scarring them and possibly everyone within listening distance. Though that may stop the staring... or just increase it.

Ebony was weird in that sense, nothing he told her ever seemed to phase her. It was like she expected it or was immune to it. Sure she showed compassion and sadness, but it never seemed to quite phase her the way it did others. Maybe it was coping mechanism for her, much like how she doesn’t like talking of herself.

He had just found out that her brother was out of the city in order to deal with a case and was the whole reason he wasn’t here today. She only ever asked about him, and it wasn’t like he didn’t give her options to talk, she just didn’t much.He was going to change that. He wanted to shoulder some more of her burdens after she had helped shoulder so many of his own. If they were going to keep this relationship of their’s going they needed to stand on equal grounds. Need to bare the same weight as much as possible.

He honestly would of asked to collar her if this was like his world, and he wasn’t so afraid. Wasn’t so afraid of losing her in the same way he did all the others. Of dust in his hands or of a sudden betrayal, and he really didn’t think his soul would be able to handle either. It was fragile without everything that had happened to him, with all the breaks… he was surprised he was even alive. Surprised he hadn’t fallen down yet, but he was a survivor, that was what he had been raised to be. Red made sure he could take a hit and get back up, even now he was doing it.

He took the hit of Frisk’s and MK’s deaths, of the loss of his home, of the loss of his brother, his job, his life. His direction striped away from him until he was standing in an empty plain with no indication of which way he should go. Left to wander until he tripped and stumbled, and fell off a cliff and right onto a path that lead in a direction so different than he ever envision for himself.Never envision himself waiting for his partner to come out of surgery, that his brother wasn’t going to be home when he went, that he would be alright and he was. He was alright and it wasn’t only because he had to be, but because he had Ebony at his side and his family behind him.

They would help him reach his destination even if they had to push him the entire way.

“Mr. Edge?” He looked up at the nurse standing before him, her nose twitching as she nervously looked at his jagged features. Bunny ears twitching on the top of her head as if she was planning the safest way to run to if she needed to. He didn’t like that, he really didn’t.

“Yes.” Carefully pronounced, open, relaxed.

“um…Sheoutofsurgery!” The bunny jolted about three feet back when he felt a smile play on his teeth.

“What room?” He questioned as he stood and towered over the bun, her ears falling back.

“Oh, ah, 506.” She stepped back as he quickly headed towards the hall.

“Thank you.” It was crisp, but he did notice a spark of something calmer in her expression, of relief and awe. He was doing better.

He wasted no time in finding out the room and knocking, a nurse opening the door and gesturing him in. There was a monster doctor looking over a chart, jotting notes down before hanging the clipboard at the end of her bed.

The monster doctor looked towards him next and flashed him a smile. “Edge, it is good to see you old friend.” Edge shifted. He wouldn’t exactly call the old doctor a friend in his own books, they simple meet more than once on multiple occasions where Edge got himself hurt and in trouble in the past.

“Doctor, I presume you are doing well?” Edge nodded as the goat smiled, his eyes glancing at the human.

“As well as any old goat who is trying to make their sister realize the error of their own choices.” He also knew him from being Toriel’s brother, one who was adamant about her forgiving Asgore since she wasn’t exactly in the right either when it came to the human and ruling issue in the underground. Edge wanted no part in the dispute so he stayed far away from it and just took the two monsters for what he could see, two fluffy, caring, goat monsters.

“Yes, well the Queen is quite stubborn… how is she?” The goat turned his attention to the sleeping human next and just offered a smile.

“I’m surprised you can’t hear it, unless that knock to your noggin messed up more things than my sister mentioned.” Edge tilted his head as he approached the bed, hand going to grasp the one that was waiting above the covers and he listed. A beat, two, then a song. Her soul was singing, singing so strongly that it was addible to everyone. Showing how happy she was. Showing him that her dream was coming true.

“Thank you.” Edge mumbled squeezing her hand as he looked down at her sleeping face.

“No, thank you Edge, thank you for finding happiness.” The old doctor said before leaving them alone. Alone and in silence. Just him and her, nothing else in the world, and he didn’t mind that one bit since it just meant he could enjoy it a bit longer before something came bursting through his bubble and causing problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I'm working on the special, it's just taking a lot longer than I expected and theirs a piece in there that would be better for after a certain chapter so yeah.   
> Secondly I will probably reply to some comments I missed earlier later today. A lot of those go Edge! one I had trouble responding to so that's why I haven't done it yet, but I've seen them! and I cherish them, just got to get to replying.
> 
> Might post another chapter either today and/or tomorrow we'll see what happens.


	57. Happy

Ebony blinked her eyes open, white roofs above her and antiseptic invading her senses. Though it was all sorta dull, she was still groggy from the meds circling her brain and the painkillers that she surely currently had in her. So much like that first time, and so many others in an attempt to fix the rest of her once broken body.

This time was different though. This time she had Edge looking down at her tenderly. Her boyfriend, her’s, and she couldn’t help her own smile at that thought.

“Hello.” She crocked and that tender look turned into a smile.

“Hello.” He squeezed her hand and she repeated the motion, feeling the cracked bone of his fingers between her own.

“Can we go dancing yet?” She mumbled, eyes dipping down to their hands, together. Listening to him chuckle and then watched as both his hands encircled her own.

“Soon, so very soon.” Her head snapped up at that, hopeful, wanting. “I suspect you’ll be standing by the end of the month at the very least, Torphen is a good doctor and I can see him being able to push up your recovery by sheer force of will.”

His words were flying through her ears as she was too busy staring at her covered legs, just wanting to see if… oh, ohhh. The blanket twitched only slightly at where her toes were, and it only took that for her to realize that she could feel it. Feel the way the blanket rubbed against her skin, how it draped across her legs. It wasn’t just a shadow of a feeling anymore it was real, it was there.

“Ebony.” Bony fingers came up to wipe at her tears and oh lord didn’t that just make her cry harder. The softness in the words and the action, the care. She didn’t think her heart could take so much at once.

“It’s been so long.” She hiccuped out instead and Edge’s hand ran through her hair, hand in hers again. “I just want to get up and run and know I can’t yet, I want to feel the grass under my toes and climb a mountain, I want to jump and dance and… and… I just want to do so much and I can’t yet, but soon, so very soon.”

“You’re almost there.” She hiccuped once, and then she was full out sobbing. Messy tears coating her face as Edge offered her tissues and petted her hair. Words murmured in the air that she couldn’t quite hear but loved.

“I’m almost there.” She stuttered and smiled, she was happy.

0-0

Edge watched as the humans buzzed, fascinated with the doctor monster before them, with what he was able to do. At the prospect of human who never saw hope in healing being cured, at recovery times being cut in half. The old goat bashful in the middle of them all and yet stern.

Edge slipped by and into Ebony’s room. She was sitting up now, a tray of food in her lap, but her eyes on her wiggling toes as a nurse giggle beside her. Her smile wide and he could only see every reason he fell in love in the first place.

“Edge isn’t this amazing?! They told me that I should be needing a brace, but nothing.” She marvelled at her own toes, at thin legs he was sure she wanted to move, but couldn’t yet. Not enough strength yet, and they wanted to completely make sure she couldn’t hurt herself again despite Torphen’s insistence that she would be fine.

“You are quite miraculous love.” He picked her hand up gently in his own and smiled as he watched he face turn red at the pet name. He could only smile, and the nurse just giggled again. Briefly he noted it was the same bun from the waiting room all those days ago, and she was actually smiling at him, but his attention was fully on Ebony’s shy smile.

“Never knew you were such a charmer.” She quipped, retrieving her hand back from him so she could continue eating her meal.

“Nyhehe, well usually I don’t have a reason to be quite so charming.” He sat in the chair beside her, watching as her toes curled and spread reactively to her command. “But now I do.” That blush again, face tinted red, he could only chuckle.

“You know, I may just be begging my recovery, but I think you almost finished your own.” He looked at her in surprise, at those gentle eyes and that smile to accompany it. “Before I couldn’t even imagine you smiling or laughing, but now it’s all I ever see, even if I know there are still things haunting you.” She looked away and into the distance, eyes glazed for only a moment before she focused on her meal again.

“I suppose that just means we’re both survivors.” She looked at him with a mouth full of food, pausing before giving him a nod and a smile that was working very hard not to open fully.

He was laughing again. The nurse was laughing, Ebony was laughing. He was happy.

0-0

Red was not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'mma just place this here before I go to bed.


	58. update!!

I'm alive, and I am continuing this story, but I am just really busy right now. Between classes and work I haven't really had time to write hence the hiatus, and it might be a bit longer yet since I have mid-terms at the moment, but I swear I will get back to this. For now though I must focus on life and hope soon that it will allow me to write soon. 

So I hope you have a good day everyone and I hope to share more of this story with you all soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will be deleted before next chapter is posted

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will be mostly on Sundays I also have this up on Wattpad if you prefer that platform. Also if your interested in a new Au I got one called Tremortale in which I have started on both my Tumblr and deviantart so if you want to check it out it's there.
> 
> Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/amberasters
> 
> Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/amberasters


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